Zoid Heart
by Cyberskirmish
Summary: Everyone knows Zoids only exist as toys or in video games. Well... everyone is wrong. I should know... I'm one of them now.
1. Chapter 1

Systems Online. Those were the first words I remember since the incident. I'm not really sure where to start my story…. I guess I'll just start with when I woke up and saw the words Systems Online.

I felt like I was floating in a dream. My mind was hazy and I couldn't even remember my own name for a moment. "Oh… right… It's… Milly… Milly Mercon…. Where am I?" The only light I saw came from the words Systems Online" in front of me. They were glowing green and illuminated an otherwise complete darkness. I reached out for it but something stopped me. When I looked to see what I saw chains in the green light. I tugged on it and while it remained firmly secure, it let me move a little bit but not much. I tested my other arm and found that it was chained as well, and my legs were chained as well when I tried to move them.

"Why am I chained? W-where am I?" A screen replaced the words and I saw the inside of a warehouse. There were two men in the distance and the video screen zooms in on them. One was in a business suit and the other was in some sort of grey jumpsuit. That's when I heard them talking.

"Are you sure they're ready?" asked the businessman.

The man in the jumpsuit shrugged. "Ready is a subjective term… but… I would say no."

The businessman looked agitated. "What do you mean they're not ready?! I was promised you'd have them done by now."

The jumpsuit man only shrugged again. "I'm sorry Mr. D, but while we have the mechanical side of things down, the computer systems are giving us trouble, especially that one." He pointed strait at the camera, causing me to flinch. "The H-Type Cores we've developed may be more advanced than the normal ones but they've also proven more difficult to control."

Mr. D looked at the camera again, and I just couldn't help but feel he was looking at me. "What do you mean?"

"Well, for one while they're able to handle more things at once the way they were created means that their more able to ignore what we tell them to do, and as you can see we've had to tie them down."

 _"_ _Tie them down? Is he referring to my chains?"_ I thought to myself. I wanted to see more of the warehouse and as if it heard me the camera moved from side to side and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. To the camera's right there were Cannon Turtle zoid, all tied up with chains to keep it from moving. To the camera's left there were several Godos tied up in a similar manner and beyond them was a Command Wolf. My eyes widened with shock. I heard the two men talking again but this time there was surprise in their voices.

"Wait, what's the Shield Liger doing awake!?" yelled Mr. D. That one line seemed to cut through me like nothing else. If they were referring to the camera, then that meant I was controlling a Shield Liger. I began to tug on the chains more, trying to break free and I saw that from the motions of the camera and the reactions from the workers in the hanger the liger was doing something as well. I fought harder and alarms started to blare, so I fought harder.

As I did my world began to light up all around me. The video screen grew larger and began to get more detailed, showing heat signatures of nine people I couldn't see, the weapons equipped on the liger, power levels and I even saw radar mapping out the room as I struggled. A warning appeared on screen as soldiers began to line up in front of the liger armed with RPGs. They fired and I raised my arms defensively instinctively.

It was in that moment my chains broke free.

I waited for the screen to go black but it didn't. I felt like something was around me. Lowering my arms, I saw that the shield was up. Everyone was stunned, none more so than me. I looked around and the camera moved with my eyes. "Maybe…" I said to myself. I took a step forward and while the screen stayed the same distance from me, the liger took a step forward. The soldiers recoiled and someone was calling for them to resume firing. Some did but it was sporadic. Deciding that it was probably not a good idea to stick around I made a break for it, leaping over the soldiers and lowering the shield. A wall was coming up fast and I searched for a means to fire the shock cannons. I don't know how it happened, but the weapon did fire. Obliterating the wall and giving me a clear path to the outside.

The radar map updated as it gathered new information. I was on a mountain, in a walled complex with a few other buildings as large as the one I just broke out of but I didn't have much to time think as I raised the shields again to block the turret fire coming from a couple of watch towers. I ran towards the gates, my shield absorbing the assault from the towers. I only lowered them for a moment so I could fire the shock cannons again at the gatehouse, making a hole big enough for the liger to slip through. As I maneuvered it through the gap I felt a sharp pain in my leg, causing me to nearly collapse.

At the same time a damage readout appeared on the screen saying the liger was hit in the back left leg. I widened my eyes at the implications. Not only did that mean I felt whatever pain the liger did, but I also couldn't run as fast. I turned to see what hit me, and there was a Saber Tiger right there growling, it's back mounted beam cannons smoking and pointed right at me. I was considering my options when another window opened up, only this time it was a video call. It was a military looking man who was probably controlling the tiger.

"Well done getting this far, but you won't get any farther." He said. I didn't really read him for the sarcastic type, and I think he actually praised me.

I tried talking back. "Please… just tell me what happened to me, where am I? What is all this?"

The man looked surprised as he responded. "You… can talk?"

"Of course I can you idiot! I'm human!" I responded in an irritated tone. I winced as I said it because I probably didn't help my case. He just stood there staring at me for what seemed like eternity before speaking.

"I'm... afraid that isn't the case anymore ma'am. You have my condolences." He seemed saddened having to tell me this. It took me a moment to realize what he actually meant. I wasn't controlling the shield liger… I was the shield liger.

"No… no no no no no! This… this isn't right. I can't be!" I was freaking out and backing away. The man looked glumly at me as he piloted his tiger to pursue me. As I inched nearer to the cliff the more deliberate the tiger's movement's became. I noticed the everyone stopped firing but even so I kept the shield on just in case someone got trigger happy. "Get back! Please… I just… I just want to be left alone…"

"I'm sorry. I can't do that, come with me, we'll help you learn- "

"NO!" I yelled, cutting off the transmission. I was prepared to make a break for it but the rock beneath me broke and I began to fall down the mountain.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up on my side and hurting all over. The sphere that was now my world was still on and it was blaring with damage reports. I read through them and understood it all. None of my weapons were damaged, but my shield generator took quite a few hits and I wouldn't be using it to full effect soon. I realized that my power levels were low and I needed to charge up before I did anything. I did get up but that took some physical effort and it hurt to do so. Weakly, I limped as best I could away from my 'crash site.'

I only just noticed it was night, and considering it was day when I fell off of that cliff, I was semi-assured that the search either given up or just hadn't gotten to this area. Either way I figured I needed to move anyway in case I was discovered by… anyone really. I didn't want to scare any random person nor did I want to run into anyone who can either harm me or call in someone who COULD harm me, like that mysterious group who turned me into a zoid or worse, the military.

After a little bit I came across a lake that I recognized! It was near the town where I lived. That much excited by that fact. Then I looked in the water and saw my reflection.

I was a shield liger, but instead of the normal blue coloring I was black and had no insignias. I saw some visible dents but they appeared to be fixing themselves, or maybe I should say healing. I knew it was true but seeing it for myself with my own eyes brought me to tears as reality really set in. I wasn't human anymore; this was my life from now on.

I would've kept wallowing my self-pity if my radar hadn't picked up two aircraft closing in on my location. I couldn't identify what they were, just that they were coming. I limped back into cover as the two aircraft flew overhead. They weren't zoids, just regular jet fighters. I studied them best I can and figured they were part of the US military, but judging from the armament I saw on them they were just patrolling.

Then out of nowhere two more blips on my radar going straight for the two fighters coming from the direction of the mountains appeared. I watched from my concealed position as the fighters turned to meet the two aggressors. I recognized the other two blips as pteras when they came into view. The jets fired missiles which were easily avoided by the pteras who fired missiles as well. While both jets were able to avoid the missiles they succumbed to a third attacker I didn't even see coming on my radar. I took a good look at it and saw a black redler. I remember that they were made with stealth in mind so I doubt the jets didn't see it coming either as it tore into one of the jet's wings and shot down the other with some sort of beam weapon.

The one that was beamed was completely consumed in a fireball while the other one spiraled out of control and crashing near me. I did see the pilot eject before the crash, but so did the other zoids as they flew towards him. He cut he parachute just about the tree line and fell out of my line of sight. I ran towards him, ignoring my pain and dodging the trees best I could. I saw the flying zoids land in a small clearing where the pilot clutched his leg. A pteras was about to fire its gun when I leaped into it with a roar.

I tore into its neck with my fangs, hoping to disable it. I turned my shield on just in time for it to absorb the frantic counter attack of the second pteras which I rammed with my shield, knocking it out cold. I turned to the redler that wasn't on the ground anymore. It tried to take me out by staying out of my range but my shield deflected it's beam attack. I unfolded my own beam gun on my back and shot at it. It took a couple tries but I managed to hit it's wing hard enough for it to have to retreat. I turned to look at the injured pilot who probably had his mind blown by all of this. He was pointing his pistol at me.

I studied him closely wondering if he was badly injured. His gun arm was steady but from the way his leg was bent he needed a doctor fast. I was unsure of what to do when I detected movement from behind me. I spun around and saw the downed pteras take off uneasily. I wanted to shoot it down but my power levels were still low. Looking back to the pilot I sighed.

I lowered myself and opened up my cockpit. He was confused but he limped over to see that it was empty. I wanted to talk to him to get him to get in, but I didn't want to reveal to much about myself. Not that I knew much about myself anymore. I accessed one of the consoles in my cockpit and had it write: "Enter now, don't know if pteras will send another unit. Will take you to medical facility." I desperately hoped that he would just get in no questions asked.

"What, in the hell, is going on here!?" he demanded.

I sighed and typed "Unknown. Enter NOW. Will take you to medical facility." He looked at me for another moment before hoisting himself into my cockpit. It was a strange sensation I admit but I got up and started running as smoothly as I could. I wanted to take him to a hospital but the mystery group might have someone there. Which meant my only other option was to take him to the airbase near town.

It wasn't exactly close to the forest and I wasn't exactly in top condition so after we were in an area I was sure we were safe I slowed down to conserve my strength. "What are you?" asked the man inside me.

"Shield Liger, Lion-type Zoid." I typed in response. I braced myself for the barrage of questions he had.

"What were those things that attacked me?"

"Pteras, Pterodactyl-type Zoid. Redler, Dragon-type Zoid."

"Where did you come from?"

"Unknown."

"What do you mean?"

"Unknown." I deliberately kept my responses as robotic as I could so he would think he's just talking to a simple computer. He stared at the screen for a few more seconds before resuming his barrage.

"What are you combat capabilities?"

"Classified."

"Are you military?"

"Negative."

"Why are you here?"

That one caught me off guard. I pondered it for a moment before responding. "Unknown. Unit activated in unknown location and escaped. Damaged sustained from fall down mountain facility. Primary directive: Survival."

He stared at me for what seemed like ages this time before sighing. "…. Thanks for saving me."

"You're welcome." The rest of the trip to the base was silent for the most part. The only sounds he made was pained ones as he tried to keep his leg comfortable and I tried to be as stealthy as I could. Which was hard considering I was now a giant mechanical cat armed to the teeth. Literally. I mostly stuck to side paths and vacant roads until I saw the sign that marked the edge of the air force's base. "We're here."

"I noticed. I'll call ahead and tell them not to shoot you." He looked around my cockpit which was quite literally alien to him. "Uh… how do you make a call from in here?"

I sighed and just opened up an open communication channel for him. "Speak now."

"This is Major Joseph Smith calling Yankee Base on an open channel. Please respond."

A new voice came in and I just sat down listening in. "Major? We lost contact with you and Captain Jaeger two hours ago. What happened?"

"We were engaged by two hostile aircraft and a third ambushed us. Sean… didn't make it."

"…. Understood. Where are you now?"

"That's… complicated. Suffice to say I'm with a friendly, and if it wasn't for her I wouldn't be alive."

"Uh huh… well I'm sure the general is looking forward to your debriefing."

"I'm sure he is. I'm coming in now from the east of the base, do not, I repeat, do not engage the vehicle I'm approaching in."

"What are you coming in on?"

"You'd never believe me until you see it."


	3. Chapter 3

I was uneasy to say the least. I was in an empty air force hanger lying down as several squads armed with more anti-tank weapons than I've ever seen anywhere, even in video games. It's been hours since I gave Smith back to military, and naturally the first thing that was ordered was me being contained. Smith did defend me but was overruled. The only reason I stuck around was because I wasn't about to take on the entire air force on half a shield.

I passed the time learning more about my new body. Most of it was just technical readouts on what my body did, how it did it and how well it did it. But some of it was systems I didn't even know I had or even knew shield ligers could do. I remembered hearing something about an H-type core from the mechanic talking to that Mr. D, so I looked for that in my systems.

I found it under technical design. Parts of the file were locked to me but there was a 'sanitized' version of it. Apparently H-type cores were made to not only be the power source of zoid, it also mutated it in subtler ways as the zoid experienced more. I didn't know what that meant for me, but I think it meant the more I lived the more I changed. That depressed me in more ways than I cared to count.

I spent the next couple of hours messing around with a simulator that was built into me. It felt real enough to me as I ran around fake fighting the virtual enemies, getting used to all of it. I stopped when I saw an important looking figure walk towards me sometime around noon. I sat up and my body did the same thing, well as a liger would at least. He spoke in a tone that demanded that you do what he says.

"I am General Bishop, commanding officer of this base. I understand I have you to thank for saving Major Smith. But you have intelligence regarding what happened last night and possibly an explanation as to why a children's toy is suddenly killing my men." I didn't really know how to respond to that second part or even how to show the first part. I scanned the area with the IR scope and noticed several people waiting outside the hanger along with heat signatures that looked suspiciously like industrial machinery. I checked the status of my shields, and to my disappointment they weren't up to full strength yet.

"Now, if you come with me we can find you a place more suited to your needs." I nodded slowly and kept my eye on those heat signatures as I followed him out of the hanger. To my relief they were just moving crates from another hanger. I saw that they stopped to clean up a simple spill which I saw Bishop yell at them for. I turned off my IR scans, chuckling to hide my paranoia. Although I realized that I was the only one who could hear it. I face palmed and hoped it didn't translate into my real body.

The new hanger wasn't too far from the one we walked out of. From the looks of it, it was some sort of lab. I was about to question that when suddenly something slammed into me from both sides and effectively immobilized me. I roared in anger, looking directly at Bishop. "I'm sorry. But you hold secrets about a new enemy who's using a new weapon. And you're the only one we have. I promise we won't kill you, but we are going to have to get invasive if we want to know what makes you tick and how to make more of you."

I only roared in response as I struggled against my restraints. I barely got a good look at them but from what I saw they were suspended from the ceiling and were effectively just giant clamps that prevented me from opening up my fold out beam gun. I could still fire my shock cannons but they wouldn't do me any good at the empty space they faced. At most they'd make a hole in the side of the hanger but that was it.

The only thing I could do was keep roaring and struggling against my new chains as men with power tools approached from the front. I turned on my shield to harmlessly bounce them back but something made me lunge forward. I looked to see what when I noticed that my shield was trying to 'deflect' the clamps as well. With a smile, I kept the shield on and sent every ounce of non-essential power I had to it. At this point military personal were scrambling, trying to keep me contained or just trying not to get in the way if I DID get free.

The clamps broke off at the source, taking half the ceiling with them. I fired my shock cannons and bolted out of the new hole in the wall. I shook off the clamps that still held me and ran at my top speed away from the base. Two attack helicopters got in my way and shot at me. My shield blocked their attacks easily but they didn't let up so I leaped onto one of the buildings and strait at them. They broke off their attacks and got out of my way, but I unfolded my beam gun and blasted their tails off as I passed them.

I didn't know where to go. Staying here meant dissection, and going back to the mountains meant possibly being discovered by the mystery group or getting caught up in the inevitable conflict between them and the military. So I kept running aimlessly away from anyone who wanted to hurt me.

I was night by the time I stopped running. I didn't really care where I was. I felt so tired that I collapsed on the spot. My power levels were back up but the problem was my mental capacity was fried. I wasn't used to being awake for this long, and even though my new body didn't need it, I did. I told myself I just needed to rest for a few minutes and I would be fine.

I closed my eyes and passed out instantly.


	4. Chapter 4

I groaned as I hit the alarmed next to my bed and got up, my head all foggy. Yawning I walked to the bathroom to shower. I was barely awake and when I looked in the mirror I recoiled instantly, fully awake. It was me, but I looked half human half shield liger. I looked at my own hands which looked normal, but in the mirror they looked they looked like some combination of a liger's paw and a human hand, only on my right wrist the triple barreled shock cannon was attached to it. My body was a mix of darkened human skin and black liger armor. I still had my human face but it was covered by a semi-transparent orange face mask that was part of some liger head shaped helmet. I was scared to see what my legs looked like in this mirror but curiosity got the better of me and I brought the mirror to an angle where I could see my legs and they looked a lot like my arms, minus the weapon attached to it. I also noticed the shield liger tail just hanging behind me.

Suddenly I realized I was dreaming. With a sigh, I put the mirror back where it belonged and slumped against the wall. I was my normal self when I didn't look in the mirror and that was some comfort. I decided to take advantage of the false reality I was in and pretended to that being a shield liger was just a dream.

After a hot shower and breakfast, I went out to see the fake world I was in. It was exactly like the town I lived in, complete with the people who lived there. But there were also new faces I didn't recognize. I just wandered aimlessly really, stopping only to grab lunch at a local diner, where I confirmed this was a dream. The food was never this good in real life.

I got the idea that maybe I can use this dream world to find a hiding place in town. Now instead of aimlessly wandering, I wandered around town to find a spot where I can hide out. It felt like hours before I found a spot that was perfect. It was an old warehouse on the edge of town that had been abandoned years ago. I went back home as it was getting dark and went straight to bed.

As soon as I passed out in the dream world I woke up in the real one. Not much time actually passed in the real world, according to my on-board clock only an hour or so. It was still dark so I ran as fast as I could towards town, praying the military didn't cut off the entire area.

Entering town was easy as no one was awake but there were military patrols I somehow dodged. As I made my way around the edge of town I kept my IR online at all times, seeing the people in their homes or stores opening things up as dawn approached. When I got to the warehouse I noticed one very important detail I neglected when deciding this location.

The door was closed, and I have no idea how to open it when I'm in this body without damaging it. I glanced around to see if anyone was nearby then bent over try to use the tip of my fangs push the door to the side. I was only semi-successful and had to use my paw to push the doors all the way open for me to enter. I then tried to close it and had more success. Happy with my accomplishment I glanced around the warehouse. To my great surprise, and confusion, it was filled to the brim with zoids memorabilia. Dozens of model zoids lined shelves along the walls in front of their boxes as what could only be every single zoid-themed poster ever made lined the walls.

The creepiest thing was a life sized model of a shield liger staring right at me. I decided that this warehouse was not the one for me as obviously someone was using it. Not to mention all of the zoids stuff was creepy. Unfortunately, I sensed a car driving up the street.

And the driver was getting out of the vehicle.

And was walking towards the human-sized door.

My day just keeps getting better and better.

As the door opened a girl walked through carrying a box of parts. She was on her phone and didn't notice me until she had shut the door behind her, and spent a full five minutes talking to someone as she dug through her box.

She dropped both her phone and her box on the floor when she saw me. The silence was awkward. She made the first move when she walked up and touched me, probably to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. I recoiled instinctively and she jumped back with a yelp. I was desperate not to have to run away so I locked onto her phone and called it. She picked it up. "H-hello?"

"Please, please, please don't freak out."

"Wait…" She looked up to me and widened her eyes. "YOU are the one calling me?"

"Yes, and please don't tell anyone I'm here."

"Are you kidding!? People need to see you, you're the greatest thing since… ever!"

"Yes, and the military is after me."

"Oh…"

"And so are the people who made me."

"Wait, the people who made you? Meaning there's more zoids out there?" She sounded excited at that prospect.

"Yes, but right now they're in the hands of people who shoot down US jet fighters."

"Oh… Uh… sorry."

"Just… don't tell anyone I'm here and… I'll give you ride." That got her ecstatic and she nodded vigorously. I sighed in relief and the lied down. I also briefly looked through her phone in the seconds it took for her to finish nodding. Kinzoku Varan, a local mechanic in the garage. "Listen… I need a favor."

"Sure, anything, name it."

"I need repairs. My shield generator isn't fully functional as it was damaged in a... fight."

"I'd love to help, but I don't know the first thing about shield generators."

I paused, thinking for a moment before bringing up specifications of my generator and sending it to her phone as well as the current problem with my generator. "I just sent the specifications for my generator to your phone. Do you think you can handle it?" She studied her phone for several minutes before nodding.

"I think so, but it's gonna take some doing but I think I can jury-rig something. Oh, I'm Kinzoku, Kinzoku Varan."

"I'm… Shadow." I only said that because of something I read while I was in Yankee Base. I made a mental note to look it up later. "It's nice to meet you Kinzoku."

"You too. This is awesome!" She hung up and began digging through the box of parts. I didn't know how car parts were going to help me but she was the expert in mechanical stuff. Once again I passed the time by going through my systems, trying to unlock what I couldn't access and running simulations to hone my skills. All the while I kept an eye on my sensors to make sure no one was coming. But unless the military was arming birds with spy cameras nothing came.

I also listened in on all the radio frequencies in the area to see if anything about zoids was on the air. I picked up military chatter about encountering godos patrols in the forest near town there was nothing. The only thing I considered bad news to me was the fact that the air force was calling in the army to help deal with the mystery group in the mountains. Although it seems that Bishop wasn't willing to waste resources hunting me down as I didn't hear anything on any channel about a search party.

"Hey Shadow?" I came out of my little 'surveillance trance' and paid attention to Kinzoku. "I got the rig set up. I just need you to lift your head so I can access the damaged generator." I lifted my head and unfolded the generator. I felt as Kinzoku poked around there and installed the new part. After it was installed she got out of the way so I could test it. It came on at full power and Kinzoku squealed with joy.

With a chuckle I shut down my shield. Not to long after I heard explosions in the distance. Kinzoku did as well. She rushed to the warehouse door and pulled it open. Columns of smoke came up from the town as I picked up chatter from the military about one of their tank brigades running into what seemed to be a molga unit from the way they described them. The fighting seemed evenly matched from the chatter I was picking up.

Kinzoku looked at me with pleading eyes. I lied down and opened up my cockpit, surprising her. She looked over me one more time and climbed in, strapping herself in. I let out a roar and she squealed in delight. I ran into the town and saw a number of tanks in a defensive formation around the town firing on molgas who were crawling towards town, firing back at the tanks. The tanks even though they appeared to have the better firepower and armor were simply outnumbered and were losing ground.

I leaped over the line of tanks firing my shock cannon at the molgas, blasting them to pieces. They quickly focused their fire on me so I turned on my shield and rammed into them. The tanks used this to their advantage and concentrated their fires on the molgas that were either picking themselves back up from me ramming them to the side. The remaining molgas were trying regroup but by now the air force was coming in with jets bombing the enemy while attack helicopters supported the tanks. The combined force of myself and the military managed to drive the hostile zoids back.

After the last molga was driven away I looked back to the military who began to surround me, with Kinzoku inside of me. I opened up a text window in the cockpit. "Whatever you do, don't panic. I'll get you out of this."

"How?"

"Watch."


	5. Chapter 5

"Ok… so in hindsight I guess blasting dirt isn't the best way to throw up a smoke screen."

"You think?" Kinzoku replied sarcastically as I dodged the tank shells through the forest. I managed to shake most of the tanks but the helicopters weren't as easy. My only chance was to go up to the mountains and find a cave or something. I found a ledge and jumped onto it, effectively losing the rest of the tanks as I kept climbing up the mountain. The helicopters tried to cut me off but I just kept climbing. "Hey! Your radar map thing is picking up a cave to your right!" I accessed the map and found the cave she was referring to and ran for it.

It was big enough for me and as the radar mapped it out I discovered it was quite large and quite deep. It was perfect for me. But if I ever wanted to come out I needed to make sure the helicopters didn't see me. I turned around and fired my beam gun at the helicopters trying to get them to scatter. They did but some fired missiles at me. Perfect. I turned on my shield and let the missiles impact it and used the smoke to disappear into the cave.

I didn't stop running until I stopped seeing sunlight. I finally let myself breath, metaphorically speaking. I would have let Kinzoku out but there wasn't any light and I wasn't equipped with headlights. "We should be safe for now."

"This. Day. Is. AWESOME!" That wasn't the response I expected. Then again if I was as obsessed with zoids as she was I'd be stoked. "So what's the plan?"

"For now… we're just going to hide here for a few hours and wait for the heat to die down." I sighed and lied down. Even though it didn't do much for my body it was the thought of it that made me ease up a little.

"So…. How long do we have to stay in here?"

"I don't know. A few hours at least."

"… Can I ask you a few questions?" I sighed. I knew this was going to happen eventually.

"Might as well."

"What is your top speed?" I checked out my design specs.

"A hundred and fifty-five miles per hour."

"Wow! Hold old are you?"

Once again I turned to my specs. I knew my human age but as a zoid I didn't know. "I am six months old." A tear rolled down my virtual face as I read this. Six months… I was probably considered dead as a human by now.

"Why are you called Shadow?"

That reminded me to looked up where I found the name. I looked though my database, still crying a bit but I found the reason. "I am a specialty made liger designed for reconnaissance in enemy territory."

"So you have stealth systems?"

"As well as better sensors than the average shield liger."

"Awesome! So you're a Shadow Shield Liger?"

"I guess that name is as appropriate as any." Suddenly I picked up something on my sensors further down the cave and approaching rapidly. "Be quiet. Something's coming." I turned to face it, glancing through my systems to see if I had access to the stealth systems. To my disappointment the only thing I had access to was a radar jammer which I turned on.

A lone godos approached, but instead of open fire, it only ran away and I picked up radio chatter. It was screaming for help as it ran deeper into the caves. I ran after it keeping my sensors on high alert. As it ran into a large cavern several zoids surrounded me. A gordos with a satellite dish as part of its equipment, a command wolf with climber wolf modifications, three godos with modifications that reminded me of some combat engineers I saw at Yankee base and two cannon turtles that actually seemed normal looking.

Dozens of molgas while backed up by tanks and helicopters was one thing. But seven various zoids in a confined space didn't bode well for me. It was a standoff. The only thing that gave a sense of this being a fantasy was Kinzoku half geeking and half freaking inside my cockpit. Finally, the gordos took a step forward and opened up a communication channel. "Who are you?"

I sent Kinzoku a typed message saying that I'd prefer if she didn't talk and I responded to the gordos. "I call myself Shadow. Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the one who can tell everyone to back off. Give me a reason to do so." I backed away slowly studying the other zoids. Then I realized I actually recognized these zoids. Except for the gordos, I saw each of these zoids from the moment I woke up.

"I was built around an H-type zoid core… I'm like you. I used to be human." I didn't be connected to the other zoids to know that they suddenly felt sympathy. Silence once again ruled the cavern for several moments before I broke it. "I recognize most of you from the hanger I woke up in. You were all chained up to prevent movement. I… managed to break free on my own."

They looked at each other and I picked up radio chatter but I couldn't figure out what they were saying. The gordos was probably encrypting it somehow cause all I got were random noises. After a brief moment the gordos looked back at me. "We… didn't know there was another. We thought we were the only ones. But I guess that you being the first to wake up would explain a few things." He started telling me how they got here.

The command wolf, who went by Rush, was the first to wake up. He remembered people shouting at others and explosions. He was like me, they all were. They didn't know they were zoids yet so it was all so confusing at the time. As soon as the soldiers in the hanger realized he was awake they tried to kill him but he lashed out, firing his beam gun and adding to the madness. The three godos, Max Rev and Ex, woke up somewhere in the middle of that chaos and saw what was happening. They managed to piece together what was happening fairly quickly and as Max ran to free the cannon turtles, Rev and Ex cut a hole in with their equipment in the back as Rush kept the mystery group busy.

That's when they met the gordos, who was in the process of being armed but was abandoned soon after I broke out it seemed. Quickly, Rev and Ex went to finishing the arming process as the cannon turtles, Shade and Blast, joined Rush and kept the enemy at bay, who were now sending zoids to take them out, mostly other godos and molgas.

When the arming was complete, the gordos, Miller, awoke and nearly shot Rev's head off. Ex and Max tried cutting another hole in the Miller's room to try and escape as Rev explained what was going on. Still confused, but understanding the stakes, Miller told the godos to get out of his way as he blasted a hole in the wall big enough for everyone to get through. Taking point, he took the group out of the base where they ran into the tiger that stood in my way. He simply let them go for some reason. They kept running until they found this cave and hid in it.

"… and that's our story. We've been hiding here trying to figure out what to do since then." Finished Miller. It explained so much to me. Why the mystery group didn't come after me, the sudden attack on Major Smith's patrol, they were worried that their entire operation was exposed. "We have you to thank for our freedom, but what's going on? We heard explosions and Rev went to check it out. We thought you were one of them."

"Well… short version is that the people who made us into zoids attacked the town near the mountain and I helped them drive off the attack but they want to bring me in, make more of me, and I had to ditch them." They simply stared at me. Maybe telling them that a war broke out wasn't the best way explain what happened. "Oh… and I'm currently carrying a zoids fanatic in my cockpit. You can trust her though, and she's good with machines so she can help repair the stuff we can't heal ourselves." They murmured amongst themselves again, and I was hoping it wasn't a 'let's kick her out' conversation. "She doesn't know what I was, she only knows that I'm a shield liger and that's it."

Again they murmured amongst themselves. But after they were done Rush stepped forward. "We'll take you in. Both of you. We'll need all the help we can get but you're taking care of the human. Figure out something and come back here."

"In the meantime we'll be trying to figure out a plan for surviving this." Said Miller. I nodded and walked away. Kinzoku was confused.

"Why aren't we staying with them?" she asked.

I decided to skip the typing and just spoke to her. "We need to get you provisions. Zoids may not need to eat or sleep but you do. And none of us have anything to eat." As I said this Kinzoku's stomach growled and she smiled sheepishly.

"So where do you live?"


	6. Chapter 6

I waited impatiently in Kinzoku's backyard. Even though I was invisible to radar, it wasn't as good as being invisible to the naked eye. Kinzoku was inside grabbing clothing, food and filling up a barrel of water from the sink. To my discomfort we also had to stop by Kinzoku's warehouse and grab some necessities, and 'save' some of her collection as well. I told her to only grab one model and three posters. Anything else would just have to weather the storm. Although secretly I hoped that the life-sized liger model would be blasted to bits.

She came out running throwing a suitcase and bags of non-perishables in my cockpit's back seat and I lied down so she could tie the water barrel to me. It wasn't ideal but we planned to grab Kinzoku's jeep and throw everything in there. That would essentially become her home until we found something better or this whole mess gets cleaned up. Hopefully the latter. She jumped into my cockpit and I took off towards the warehouse, hoping it was still in one piece.

It was. I nudged the car into the warehouse and hid inside it myself as Kinzoku hoped out and closed the hanger door. She grabbed everything that could fit in her jeep and left the food in my cockpit for safekeeping. She also grabbed the model for a redler and three random posters, throwing them into the jeep as well. She also ran into a room where I lost visual contact but my IR showed that she was changing into something. Into what I didn't know but it was probably going to make me uncomfortable.

To my surprise, she was wearing a Kevlar vest, a full motorcycle helmet, combat boots and knee and elbow pads. I didn't even want to know why she had that stuff. She hoped into her jeep and I connected with her phone. "Ok, you set?"

"Yeah."

"Open up the door and let's go. I don't want to spend another minute here."

As she opened the door and I got out, something tackled me from the side and pushed me over. I roared in defiance and looked around growling. I couldn't pick up anything on any sensors. An attack came from behind me and hit my back leg, but not hard enough for serious damage. I unfolded my beam gun and fired at the source to no avail.

"Shadow! These guys must be helcats!" Kinzoku shouted into the phone, staying in the warehouse. If they were helcats then I needed to find some way to pick them up quickly. I couldn't see them on any spectrum and they were able to evade my radar somehow. So I focused on sound. I remembered it worked in the anime so I listened closely. One was behind me and even though I managed to hit it, another blast came from my right which I managed to get my shield on just in time to block it. Meanwhile the one I hit disappeared again. This battle was very one sided and I didn't want it to drag on as the military is probably going to come by any minute.

All seemed lost until I saw a new screen replace my normal vision. It was sonar.

With it I located the three helcats attacking me and easily dispatched them. "Kinzo, we need to go NOW!" I switched off the sonar, wondering why I never saw it before and stood guard as Kinzoku drove her jeep out to shut the warehouse door. We then made our way out of town the fastest way we could and Kinzoku showed some remarkable driving skills as she stayed on my tail the entire time.

However, despite our best efforts, we ran into a blockade of several tanks. I could probably take them out but not only did I not want to I couldn't guarantee that Kinzoku would come out of it safely. I growled at them. It was a standoff I didn't like. After several minutes a helicopter approached the area and landed behind the tanks. Soldiers took up positions around the tanks and nearby buildings but didn't fire as, to my surprise, General Bishop came out of the helicopter and approached me. "We meet again Liger." I located his radio and connected to it.

"Yeah. Let me and the jeep pass."

"So you can talk." I mentally lashed myself for giving that away as quickly as I did.

"Yes, I can. Let me and the jeep pass. You have nothing to gain from trying to capture us."

"While that's not specifically true, I'll order my men to let you and your friend pass unharmed if you'll hear me out."

I was silent for a long moment. "What do you want."

"We're not the only area that's been attacked by hostile zoids. As of right now, we're receiving reports all across America about similar attacks, with varying success. As of right now forty percent of American soil has fallen to the enemy. We've also received reports from overseas about the same thing. We are at war and we need all the help we can get."

I thought about the implications of this. A war suddenly breaking out all over the world. I didn't know who this mystery group was but if they were all over the world that must mean there were other H-type zoids… other humans turned into zoids.

"Now… I know we don't exactly have the best relationship. But we could use your help in repelling this threat." He seemed very sincere, and I did pick up chatter indicating the other attacks.

"… I'll contact you with my answer general. Right now, I just want to leave. But as a sign of cooperation, I'm going to tell you that helcats, specialized stealth zoids with optical camouflage, have infiltrated the town. You can spot them with sonar. Now let us pass."

As I said this my sonar picked up one coming from directly behind the tanks. In the blink of an eye I unfolded my beam gun and fired, destroying its cockpit and possibly killing whoever was piloting it. It collapsed and came into view as astonished soldiers stared at it. Bishop took control of the situation and ordered all troops to form a perimeter and called for sonar equipment, and as promised told his troops to leave me alone. I walked through the gap the tanks made for me and Kinzoku followed. Once we were pass that we bolted for the mountains.

It took us more time than I like getting up the mountain since Kinzoku's jeep couldn't leap across ledges or what seemed to be small gaps to me. We did manage to speed things up a bit when she connected her jeep's cable to my tail to help haul her up steeper inclines. By the time we actually got to the cave we'd been gone for several hours.

Rush was waiting for us at the cave entrance and led us to the group. Miller was the one who spoke to me. "I wasn't expecting her to bring a car."

"It's better than keeping her in me all the time. Plus, this way she can go into towns without all the attention a ninety-two-ton war cat attracts."

"Good call. You have everything you need?"

"Food water clothing and Kevlar."

"She has Kevlar?"

"Not the weirdest thing she owns. Trust me."

"Okay then… we were thinking we leave this place. Go somewhere where there's no conflict."

"That's… going to be difficult. I spoke to the general in charge of the local military forces. Whoever made us, they're everywhere. And I mean, everywhere. Go check for yourself." He seemed shocked but he did head for the entrance with Rush as an escort. Kinzoku got comfortable with her laptop I loaded with every zoid schematic I had, which aside from my own, was a grand spanking total of four. And they happen to be the zoids I'm with now.

I looked to the others still in the cavern thoughtfully. Maybe I was made to work with these zoids, or I only had H-type zoids on file. Whatever the reason for me having them it gave Kinzoku something to do once I handed them to her. I lied down as Rev walked up to me. "Hey, so… you were the first to awaken right? Do… you remember who you were before?"

I paused as she asked me this. I never really thought about it before but I did in that moment. What I remembered shocked me. "Not… entirely. I know my real name… my job… but I don't remember my family… or even remember if I had any friends. Why?" Even though I managed to keep my voice calm I was on the verge of tears. How much of myself was taken from me? And would I ever get it back?

Even though I didn't see her face, I knew Rev's eyes were full of sympathy. She and everyone else probably already knew exactly what I was going through. Suddenly I was tired again, I just lowered my head so I could dream again… and pretend I was human once again.


	7. Chapter 7

I 'woke up' inside the dream much like I did the last time. In my bed in my pajamas as a human being. After a nice long shower, avoiding the mirror completely and dressing in plain clothing I just went out for a walk in the park. It was a beautiful day and I just felt like laying down in the grass and doing absolutely nothing. And that's exactly what I did. I lost track of time as I just lay there, feeling more at peace than I have been in days. I took a deep breath in and pretty much drifted to sleep unintentionally.

When I woke up I was still in my dream world. I guessed I had to fall asleep in my fake bed to actually wake up, and I was perfectly fine with that. It was nighttime so I got up and stretched. That's when I heard the scream.

I jerked my head to the source and it was a woman who looked scared beyond her wits and she was pointing at me. I had a bad feeling I knew why she was screaming at me and I looked down. I wished I hadn't.

I was half Shield Liger.

I tried to tell her to stop screaming but my voice never came out, instead I only roared and growled, which didn't help my situation as the police started to arrive. I ran as fast as I could, getting down on all fours to increase my speed. I managed to lose them and found an empty ally to hide in. I was crying as I ran from the police, and I didn't stop since then. I just wanted this nightmare to end.

"Pathetic." I looked around for the source of that voice, not just because someone was speaking to me but also because… it was my voice. "You easily have the power to demolish the military presence here, and instead of using that power to take over this little reality, you instead run away to cry like a baby." I looked up to a fire escape to see a person cloaked in shadows, but from the outline she was like me, but… different. I couldn't put my finger… claw… whatever, I couldn't figure out what it was.

"W-who are you?" I asked, opening my 'visor' to wipe away my tears. All she did was chuckle as she dropped down from the fire escape and into the light. She looked like my twin, but with one key difference.

She was half blade liger.

"Can't blame you for not remembering me Milly. The conversion process was supposed to make us forget who we were." She casually walked to me and I stood up and pointed my shock cannons at her.

"Stay back." That was all I managed to say, and she just kept walking towards me, but now with a smirk on her face.

"Come on Milly, you know I'd never hurt you."

"I said stay back!" I backed away but was stopped by the dumpster I was hiding behind. She only sighed and kept walking towards me. All of a sudden there was this bright flash and out of desperation I fired my shock cannons. I was shaking as reality set in for me.

I was back in the real world and everyone was staring at me. There were three blast marks on the wall opposite to me and Rev was on her back, just to the right of my head. I realized what happened. "S-sorry… bad dream…" I realized my body was actually shaking and not just my virtual self and stopped it. The others glanced at each other. "Really… I'm fine. Just ignore it. Um, sorry Rev." The other two godos helped her up as everyone went on their business but I could feel the glances they sent my way.

I realized Miller was already back and walked up to him. "So? Verify what the general told me?"

"Yeah… I just can't believe it. That leaves us with very limited options you know."

I nodded solemnly. "We need to help, if only to earn the right not to be dissected." Miller looked to the others and sighed.

"I know. We'll have to discuss it with the others." We spent the better part of the day debating what we wanted in exchange for our help. We had to make sure we were treated as equals not only while we were fighting a war but also after the war itself. We didn't want to be alienated from the people we were going to fight to save.

By the time we were finished deciding our price the sun was fading back into the horizon. Miller Rush and I stood at the entrance to our lair watching it. I provided Miller with the frequencies I heard Major Smith's patrol use and he contacted Yankee Base.

"Who the hell is this? Identify yourself." Asked a rather peeved off sounding man.

"It's the liger you tried to dissect." The line went silent for a few minutes. Finally, Bishop was on the line and spoke to us.

"I take it you thought about my offer?"

"Yes. But WE have conditions."

"We? Wait, there's more of you?"

"Yes. They're my squad."

"Very well… what are your conditions?"

"Full rights, we want to be treated as any American citizen."

"Done. What else?"

"Any operation that involves using us must have our consent and we must be part of the planning."

"Agreed."

"We'll require a military liaison to help coordinate between us and all armed forces. Do you think Major Smith will be available for this?"

"I think so. I'd have to ask him. Is there anything else?"

"We believe there are other zoids like us, independent and pilotless. We ask that they be granted the same rights as we have been given unless they are working with the enemy."

"I'll try to work on that.'

"That will be all then."

"I'll see what I can do, but right now you're free to come to Yankee base and help us secure the immediate area."

"Understood. But right now we need ammo. We'll send over the specifications to your systems."

"Understood. We'll see what we can do."

"See you when we get to Yankee base Bishop." Miller cut off the line then and rush went back to grab the others.

"Who's Major Smith?" asked Miller. I realized I completely forgot to bring him up during our discussion on what we wanted.

"Uh, he's an air force pilot I rescued from some pteras and a redler."

"Ah" Soon after Rush returned with the others we left for Yankee base.


	8. Chapter 8

Yankee base changed dramatically since I last got here. Not only were their more troops and tanks than before, but trenches were being dug, more watchtowers being erected and more soldiers and personnel than I could count. We were in a rather large hanger that was being remodeled into a support hanger for me and my new squad. Not only would it be where we stayed while not on duty, it'd also serve as a repair hanger as well as a command center for us.

Smith was there coordinating the effort to convert the hanger, although he seemed to be making it up as he went along. Kinzoku was helping him out as well as redesigning a few missiles to work with my launchers. The rest didn't really need the extra ammo as their weaponry was energy based. In the hanger next to ours they military was dissecting the corpses of various zoids they managed to defeat, including a red horn I didn't even know attacked.

I was impressed they managed to take it out without any zoid support, but one of the tank commanders admitted it wasn't an easy feat. The best they could do to stop it in its tracks was taking out its knees and surrounding it to pummel it into scrap. Despite the victory the tank commander was worried about what might happen if they ran into an entire battle group of red horns. He didn't seem comforted when I told him that dark horns were more dangerous.

Miller was helping the intelligence and communication people to contact other bases and military units as well as monitor enemy chatter to determine their numbers and strategy. Rush was letting Bishop's pilots use him as a tutorial on how to pilot zoids, the godos trio was helping build new defenses, refit hangers and repair the one I destroyed as the cannon turtle twins were drilling with the tanks. I was left doing nothing as no one needed me. I was just lying down in a hanger feeling a bit useless. I felt like I could help Rush but apparently the team voted me squad 'leader' just to shove all the paperwork to me. Granted in my case paperwork just meant files upon files of virtual paperwork I 'signed' and printed to the support hanger for Smith to fully approve.

I was basically alone for several hours before Bishop surprised me with a visit. "Shadow, do you mind if we talk in private?" I didn't see any reason not to so I opened my cockpit for him. He hesitated but got in.

"Care to go for a run while we talk?" He thought about it for a moment before nodding. I left a message with Smith informing him on what I was doing and left the base. As soon as we were clear of the defense line I bolted at my top speed. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to know what makes H-type zoids so special? I spent some of my time researching zoids and watching the shows and nothing indicated that zoids were sentient, not like you are."

"Well… if I tell you it has to remain a secret. You can share it with people you'd trust your grandchildren's life to, but no one else."

"Agreed." I sighed, collecting my thoughts. I tried to think of an easy way to say it but I couldn't think of anything. So I just said it the simplest way possible.

"We were human once."

He was silent, but his eyes were full of shock and horror. With a sigh, I continued. "None of us remember much of our past, or how we were made this way… just that we were human once. When we refer to H-type zoids… we're talking about the zoids who's cores were made from or around a human. We've been trying to unlock the data on how we were made to… I don't know. Look for a way to turn back or to better understand what we've become."

"And… you think there are others like you?"

"We've no reason not to. Not that we wish such a fate on others, we just believe that whoever made us made others like us."

"Do you have any idea who the hell would do something like this?"

"No… I wish I did. Then I would hunt that person down and maybe turn him or her into an H-type."

"I thought you said you didn't wish this sort of fate on others?"

"Well… yeah. Fair enough…"

"Look, I'll have my top people look into this discreetly. And I have to pass this information up to the Pentagon, they have to know."

"Hold off on that. We should focus on actually securing this area first before we do anything else."

"Agreed. Any suggestions?"

"Well… No. But we'll figure something out. I promise."

"Right. Now… how do I pilot you?"

"Pardon?"

"I need to learn how to pilot a zoid in case we need to evacuate."

"Ok then…" We spent the next hour just going over the basics of moving. It was… rather strange to be piloted, but it felt right in a way. While he was controlling me I focused on my sensors, to make sure no one was around. After another hour or so Bishop was an expert in movement. We were on our way back to Yankee base when I picked up five blips on my sensors directly in front of us. I threw up my shield just in time to block three ranged attacks.

Bishop took control of me and charged me straight at the attackers. As we got in close I saw zoids I didn't recognize. Three of them looked like tigers but the other two looked more like lions with giant swords on their backs which flipped over from the top of their manes. I glanced through my data base and saw that they were called Gun Tigers and Saberlions. The second name made sense but I didn't see any guns on the tigers.

At least until their heads folded down and three cannons came out.

I was beginning to hate surprises.

I kept my shield up as we closed the gap between myself and the smaller cats. The saberlions flipped over their swords and charged us. They struck my shield the same time another volley from the tigers hit me, and I strained to keep the shield up. The saberlions bounced back and I dropped my shield only for a moment before Bishop dodged another volley. As we landed my beam cannon fired managed to take out one of the saberlions as the other charged at us again. I went against Bishop's control of me and swatted the sword away with my claws, sending the saberlion to the side where I blasted it with my shock cannon, destroying it.

The gun tigers were backing away, but kept up a steady barrage which was ineffective as my shield not only blocked the attacks that hit but Bishop managed to keep us from getting hit most of the time as we rammed one head on, sending it flying backwards. The other two just ran at that point, but to no effect. I popped out my now armed missile launchers and fired two missiles for each remaining cat. Both were knocked out before they left the range of my beam gun.

Looking back to the first gun tiger, my sensors indicated that it was still functional, just that the controls had jammed. I took full control as I walked over to it, stepping on its neck and growling. I lowered my head to let Bishop out and he drew his pistol. The enemy pilot got the message and got out of the gun tiger hands raised in surrender. I linked to the gun tiger and managed to remotely restore some of its controls, not enough for combat but more than enough to make it eject its pilot and allow Bishop to enter after he made the enemy pilot enter my cockpit. He tried to take control of me but I just locked him out.

"Well General, how do you like your new kitty?"

"I think he'll do just fine."


	9. Chapter 9

Bishop didn't waste any time having his new zoid repainted in the colors of the US Military. It was given a camouflage paint job to blend in with the forest and was given a US Flag on its head. I wondered why he didn't just give the gun tiger to one of his pilots but shrugged it off. Probably better to have one on hand in case something happened I guess.

In any case it did seem to boost morale. I heard the soldiers talking about it all over the base, about how their leader was more than just a paper-pusher, although the fact that I was more than just a thing to be piloted apparently escaped notice. I didn't mind really. I was focused on other things, like the prisoner who managed to capture.

So far he wasn't talking, so I managed to arrange a… special means of talking him.

We left him in the far end of a dark hanger with only a single lightbulb illuminating directly over him. It was a bit unorthodox but it would work well with my plan. Waiting until it was night, we checked the security camera to make sure he was still awake before opening the door and letting me walk in.

"Who's there?" I said nothing as I slowly walked towards him at a pace I hoped would make him worried.

"You won't get anything out of me!" I started growling as I approached him.

"I-I mean it! I won't talk!" As I stepped into the dim light I looked directly at him.

"J-just leave me alone!" I roared right in his face.

"A-alright I'll talk I'll talk!" I signaled the interrogator, Lieutenant Bill Bates, and he walked in as I backed away into the darkness.

Bates didn't waste any time working the prisoner over. He told us everything and if he started to clam up a little I reminded him I was still in the room with a growl or a roar. We learned a lot about our enemy in the short time we had that prisoner in that hanger, but not as much as we'd hoped. The prisoner was transferred to a holding cell as my team, Kinzoku, the command staff and squad leaders gathered in the support hanger for a briefing on what we've learned.

Bates took center stage. "Thank you for coming. Now as you know, we've yet to put a name or a face on our enemy, until today. Thanks to the efforts of General Bishop and Commander Shadow we've been able to learn just who we're dealing with." The insignia we've seen on some of their zoids appeared. It was a red saber tiger's head on a golden shield with a par of lightning bolts crossing behind it.

"They call themselves the Zoidian Armada and if you've ever seen any Saturday morning cartoon with the classic villain, you can put your money on them wanting to take over the world. The prisoner we extracted the information from admitted that most of their zoids are computer controlled, drones basically." I nodded, then spoke.

"Not exactly. All zoids are living beings, but only the H-type zoids are naturally sentient. The others either have an advanced artificial intelligence, a pilot or are running on a basic remote control interface. The third ones aren't the brightest and are more like wild animals trained to follow specific commands or are slaved to a central system."

"What would happen if we took out whatever commanded them?" asked one of the squad leaders. I thought about it for a moment before answering.

"Think of it like a loyal dog trained to do one thing, follow orders. It would continue to follow the last order you gave it, even if it means its death."

"So it wouldn't change much?"

"No, it wouldn't be able to adapt as quickly without its commander though. It would have to rely on its instincts for battle instead of having to take orders." That seemed to satisfy the squad leader's curiosity and Bates continued.

"We got lucky here, the main Zoidian force here are reserves from their base in the mountains, which isn't actually a military base. It's a factory."

"What do they make up there?" asked Bishop. Bates glanced at me then back to Bishop.

"They make every zoid you can think of, minus a few of the larger models. However, it was only recently created, about six or seven months ago it actually came online. This facility was in the process of making a unit of H-types like our allies here but we have reason to believe that they are in the process of making more heavy duty units to counter the H-types."

"How heavy duty are we talking about?" I connected to the screen and put on Shield Ligers, Iron Kongs, Red Horns, and to top it off, a Gojulus. I gazed around the room, gauging the reactions. The general reaction was grim. Most already knew about my own capabilities and how my shield could shrug off most attacks the military could make on a one on one basis, but an entire squad of shield ligers could probably destroy this base with little backup. Not to mention the idea of Iron Kongs and Gojulus backed up by Red Horns didn't help the mood. I decided to help lighten it.

"Which is why I have plan." I just thought of it really, and I surprised most of the room with my statement. "I just came up with it right now actually, but with a bit of refinement it might work."

I took control of the screen and brought up a 3D map of the entire area, including what we knew of the mountain factory. "We have to rush that base with two forces, a smaller commando force to shake things up and the main force to come in and clean house." I brought up several dots at the base of the mountain and highlighted them. "Myself, Rush, Rev and a team of infantry will ascend to the factory from here while the main force," I put on a bunch of other dots at the base, "advance from here, drawing all the attention they can, advance from Yankee Base to factory, but will stop to engage any enemy force that that crosses their path."

Everyone present looked over the plan, murmuring amongst themselves. Eventually all eyes were on Bishop who was deep in thought. After several minutes of silence, he looked to me. "How sure are you that you can take out that base?"

"As sure as these guys love to blow stuff up." There was a collective chuckle in the room.

"Then I approve of this operation. Everyone, prepare to move out in two days."


	10. Chapter 10

"You have to let me come with the commando team."

"No."

"No one knows zoids better than I do, not in this region.

"Again, no."

Kinzoku and I had been having this same argument for the past hour. I ignored it for the most part but she was persistent. This was the one and only time I wished I wasn't a human so I could ignore her better. Fortunately, Bishop was providing me with strategic support.

"For the last time Miss Varen, NO." I need new strategic support.

"Look, unless you happen to have someone on your team who can identify any zoid- "

"WE KNOW." Bishop and I said simultaneously. Truth be told she was right but we had limited room and we needed people who could fight. Kinzoku, while a great mechanic, and from what Rush told me a good pilot, she wasn't trained for war. Not that I was trained for it… but I at least had my instincts to help guide me.

"What about a compromise? You get a zoid for yourself and you can come along. That sound fair general?"

"Yes, it does. And you're going to help her."

"Wait what!?"

"Come on, you heard Bishop." Said Kinzoku with a smirk. I grumbled and opened up for her, and she got in gleefully. I just let her take control of me as we ran out of the base. I did leave a message on Bishop's phone however that simply read: You OWE me.

We spent most of the time just searching for zoids, but each one that we came across didn't really have the necessary maneuvering too keep up with me, Rush, and the assault team. It was good combat practice however and we managed to take out nine molgas, three godos and even a couple red horns we ambushed in the mountains. Gravity can be fun when you push a red horn off a cliff.

"Kinzo… we've been at this for hours. I really need to help Bishop and Bates get the plan ready."

"Just a little longer ok?"

"Fine. But one more battle and I'm taking control back and heading back to Yankee base."

"Deal!"

We bolted down into the forest, stealth systems on. By now it was sunset and I felt at home in the growing darkness. While it was strange to admit it, even if no one could hear my thoughts, but I felt comfortable when I was hard to spot. Kinzoku piloted me as I searched through my systems for a means to unlock the stuff I can't access yet. There was plenty of things I couldn't access, and considering how I was probably meant to be piloted by an 'authorized' Armada pilot I'd have to crack some code.

Bates did ask the Armada pilot we had captured but he was just a low ranking scout force leader, he only had enough clearance to know where the main force was and where some defenses were. In the meantime, I had to try to break the code myself.

I was hoping for Kinzoku to pass out so I could take her back to base, but sadly my hopes were shot dead. Almost literally as a bullet whizzed past my head. I turned to see where it came from but I couldn't identify the source. Another bullet came straight for my head but I ducked underneath it and charge for its source. "That has to be either a Gun Sniper or Snipe Master!" said Kinzoku gleefully.

I was less happy than she was as I was busy trying to make sure we didn't die. More shots came out way and one grazed my leg. It hurt but I ignored it for the most part. The graze made it harder for me to jump to the side as another bullet struck my wounded leg. It wasn't anything that couldn't be healed/repaired but the immediate effect was causing me to crash into a tree. I tried to move but I couldn't.

"S-Shadow?" I wanted to respond but I couldn't, my systems were freezing up left and right as I tried to keep ahead of it all. Sadly, my time was short as my radar, the only system that wasn't going to freeze up anytime soon picked up a blip that was coming to me fast. I desperately tried to get back up, to put up my shield, anything but everything was freezing up before I could do anything.

"Wake up! Please!" pleaded Kinzoku as the blip came into view. It was a gun sniper and it was pointing its wrist guns at me. I braced for the end as a saber tiger tackled the gun sniper, pinning it to the ground with a growl. I recognized that tiger as the one that Armada pilot I spoke to used when I first woke up. The gun sniper tried to get up but was discouraged as the tiger blasted the ground next to its head with its shock cannon. Kinzoku and I watched as the gun sniper pilot ejected and ran like hell away from the tiger.

And without a word, it left. It took me some time to get myself unfrozen but by then Kinzoku was already in the gun sniper standing guard. My front right leg was still injured so I had to limp on it. Kinzoku was silent the entire way back to base, and I think I knew why. I didn't really try to cheer her up as I barely knew her. She may have been part of my team but aside that she's a mechanic and zoids maniac I didn't know much about who she really was.

I walked into the support hanger where Rev got to work fixing my leg while Ex and Max repainted the gun sniper to match the US colors. Kinzoku just left the hanger and I connected to her phone.

"Kinzoku, it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it is."

"I should've put up my shield, but I didn't."

"You wouldn't have had to if- "

"Just stop. I'm alive, you have your very own gun sniper, and you're on the team."

"But- "

"No buts. Just get ready to move out the day after tomorrow."

"… Yes ma'am." I cut the connection and as Rev worked on making my leg better I drifted off to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

I was hiking up the mountain on a nice clear day. I wanted to take a picture of the sunset from the top of the mountain before winter came in and snowed in everything.

I had already been climbing for a couple of hours so I decided to rest. I slumped against a rock and broke out my water bottle and map. If I kept climbing at the pace I would reach the summit by sunset. I had my own photography studio in town but I was really good at nature shots. I'd go out of my way to get the perfect photo, even risking being attacked by a mountain lion once just to get a good picture of it. Not that I was crazy… just dedicated.

Very… very… dedicated.

I was right on the dot with my estimate. The sun looked gorgeous as it sunk into the horizon. I set my camera up on a tripod quickly and started the timer. I ran into position and waited for it flash. If it came I never saw it happen.

I woke up in cell wearing a simple white dress feeling groggy. It took me a few minutes before I realized I wasn't alone in this cell. There was another girl in here, wearing the same dress. She looked just as groggy on the floor across from me. I looked to the door and saw others in the cell across from mine. They were two men wearing a white short sleeved shirt with matching pants. They looked just as groggy as me and the girl I was with.

It took some time but it seems that our heads cleared up a bit, not that we had much of a chance to talk. Guards came and took me away before I was fully recovered. I was taken to some sort of laboratory and strapped to a table. I didn't see or hear much as a bright light blinded me and something was injected into me that made me sleepy.

I woke up back in my cell feeling sore all over. My cellmate wasn't anywhere to be seen and I could guess why. "Hey… are you ok?" asked a voice coming from outside the cell.

I walked to the bars the helped me in and saw one of the guys in the cell opposite to me was doing the same thing. "I'm sore… they took me to a lab… I think…"

"Same here... how long have you been here?"

"I don't know… you?"

"I guess the same as you. All I remember is going for a jog then waking up here."

"I was at the top of a mountain taking a picture…"

Our conversation was cut short as guards dragged my unconscious cellmate back into the cell. When they locked the door I gave her a quick examination. She was breathing and her pulse was normal, but unless my memory was wrong her once blue eyes were now orange. I looked in the mirror in my cell and gasped as my eyes were orange as well. I looked to the man I was talking to and realized his eyes were orange too. What were they doing to us?

"What's your name?" asked the man.

"Friends call me Milly. What's yours?"

"Ben, Ben Miller. Nice to meet you. My cellmate is James Rushmore."

"As in the monument slash mountain?"

"Yeah. There are other cells but it seems ours are the only two occupied right now." I peered around the jail and saw what he was talking about. There were four other cells just like ours, only they were vacant. I turned back to my cellmate who was groaning and saw that she was getting up. I helped her onto her bunk as she woke up.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked her.

"I think so… who are you?"

"I'm Milly, you are?"

"Rebecca… where are we?"

"I don't know… I was hoping you did. I just woke up in here."

"Oh… no sorry…" I would've asked more but explosions started happening everywhere. I backed into a corner freaking out before the world around me faded and I was back in my bubble of information. I was seeing reports from various channels that the base was under attack from armada forces.

I bolted out of the hanger. I made a note to look up the names of the people who were with me in my dream… or memory…. Whatever. I needed to know when I was taken. And I needed to see if anyone else disappeared around the same time.

Molgas and red horns attack from the ground as pteras combated fighter jets and helicopters for air dominance. Miller was blasting away with his long ranged guns as the turtle twins used their AA guns to help clear the skies as the godos took cover in various buildings, trying hard not to get hit. RPGs and heavy duty machine gun fire came from entrenched positions and the towers not on fire or in several pieces as every anti-air emplacement on the base light up the sky in a brilliant dance of fire and death. Kinzoku's gun sniper was perched on a building taking down the red horns with precision fire that I didn't even know she had.

I seriously had to figure out who she was at some point.

I noticed that Bishop was in his gun tiger and judging from the transmissions he was sending out he was using it as a mobile command center. I ran to him turning on my shield to block several missiles heading straight for the zoid. I fired my own missiles and took down several pteras. "General!"

"Shadow, thanks for the save. It's chaos out here. They came out of nowhere and annihilated the perimeter patrols. The only reason they haven't overrun us is because we were in the middle of preparing for our attack on their base." He fired his gun tiger's static cannon at pteras that got to close and they went down with ease. I kept firing my missiles until I was out, wondering just how many pteras there were. Switching to my beam gun, I roared at Bishop for him to follow me.

I ran to the turtle twins position. "Shade! Blast! Cover Bishop" I didn't wait for their response as I ran to help Kinzoku. She had leaped off of her perch as pteras blew it up with missiles and had resorted to using her wrist mounted Beam Gatling guns and the missile launchers on her back to fend off the enemy. "Kinzoku! I have a plan, I need your help!" I could tell she reluctant to follow me but she did.

After finding Rush behind the corpse of several red horns, I contacted the rest of my team and Bishop. "Everyone listen up, what we need to do is find the commanding officers here and force them into taking their forces away from attacking the base." I ducked behind one of the corpses as several molgas opened fire on my position. I fired back as I explained the rest of my plan.

"Rush Kinzoku and I will locate and attack the commanders, forcing them to call back their forces to help deal with us or to guard against us if we didn't get them the first time. Blast, Shade, use your main guns to shoot at any important looking pteras, Miller try to isolate any frequencies that look like they're being used for issuing orders. General, have your men push forward when you see the chance to."

"What the hell are you thinking Shadow?" yelled Blast. "Just three zoids vs who knows what? That's a good way to get yourself killed."

"Shut up Blast." Rush said with a Zen-like calm that surprised me, "We put her in charge, so we listen to her."

"Kinzoku, while you were on your perch did you see any zoid that looked more important or unique looking?" I asked as I fired my shock cannon, sending a molga reeling backwards.

"Several, but they didn't seem to be attack so I ignored them. Bad idea I guess…" her gun sniper looked down, reflecting the mood of its pilot.

"Doesn't matter now, how many exactly did you see and what were they?"

"A couple of iron kongs and a brachios that looked heavily modified."

"Modified how?" asked Bishop.

"Modified like Miller I guess. It had a decent amount of communication gear strapped to its sides."

"We hit that then. Where was it?"

"I can lead you to it. Come on." Kinzoku charged out from her cover and Rush and I followed her. A pair of red horns got in our way and fired their guns at us. I turned on my shield and took point, easily absorbing their attacks as Kinzoku and Rush got behind me. As we got close to the red horns Rush leaped over me and fired some sort of cables from the sides of gun back on his back that latched onto horns of the red horns. He ran in between them and the red horns were forced to face each other if they wanted to keep their heads. I leaped over one myself, blasting one of its guns off and tearing the other one off with my fangs as I leapt over it. Kinzoku unleashed all of her guns on the other one, doing a fair amount of damage to it before she leapt onto it and let her claws tear into it as she jumped off of it.

Rush retracted his cables as the one red horn fell dead and the other started to limp away from the battle. There was a few molgas around the brachios we were after that were easily dispatched. Several pteras did rush to the aid of the molga but were shot down fairly easily by jet fighters they disengaged from. The brachios didn't put up any fight as we surrounded it growling. I could tell it was frightened by the way it was controlling its every movement to study us. I contacted it. "Surrender now or we will open fire."

That's when something I didn't expect happened. It seemed to get into a tug of war with itself, its head swaying from one side to the other and I noticed that a lot of other ground zoids and several pteras were doing the same. A fair amount of the molgas began to turn on the red horns, blasting them with fire from all sides as other molgas tried to stop them. The battlefield turned into complete chaos.

"Shadow, it's Miller, what the hell did you do?"

"Shadow here, I think we're dealing with an H-type fighting for control."

"Well then what the hell are you doing?"

"What AM I supposed to do Miller? I can't exactly tear the pilot out of him or her."

"Uh… offer moral support?"

"You're so helpful Miller, you know that?"

"Yeah yeah… I did isolate the command frequency though. What do you need me to do with it?"

"Try and take control of the remaining zoids, we'll need all we can get."

"Roger."

I didn't know if it was working or not, but more zoids seemed to be infected by this rebellion bug as red horns joined the rebel molga and pteras began shooting each other out of the sky. In minutes half the attack force was taken out by itself. The iron kongs were coming out way but we were ready. Kinzoku sniped the core out of one as Rush and I charged the other. While it did catch the cables Rush launched at it, I took the opportunity to ram it hard with my shield, sending it toppling backwards. I bit its head off at the neck and looked back to the brachios. It was on its side still fighting for control over its own body. I walked over to it and looked it straight in the eyes.

I connected with it to talk to but instead my information bubble was flooding with more data than I could keep up with. It was too much information for me to handle all at once but as I tried to keep control I felt another presence in my bubble. I turned to see a man who looked half brachios in my bubble. Stunned, I reached out for him but he faded away, only saying "Thank you…" as he disappeared.

I managed to get all the data sorted enough to put to the side and looked around. The brachios was dead but the battle was over as all enemy zoids retreated. I stared at that brachios for what seemed like forever.

"Your welcome…"


	12. Chapter 12

I managed to convince Bishop to allow brachios a proper burial. It was short as none of us actually knew who he was. It was sort of our own tomb of the unknown soldier in a way. Even if he was used against his will until the end. I stayed a bit longer as I was the only one who actually spoke to him.

Eventually I went back to the hanger to deal with the amount of information that I suspected the brachios gave me before the end. Most of it was a garbled mess but I could make out some military plans and locations that gave me a general impression of how strong the enemy forces here were and where they were located. I wanted to implement this information into my attack plan but the attack left our forces severely depleted.

Bishop has ordered everyone to protect the base until we got reinforcements. Even the refugees from town who were on the base when the attack occurred had to help rebuild before we were attacked again. Captured molgas and red horns supplemented our forces as they were repainted in US colors. However, as the able bodied adults helped out around the base the children needed to be watched so they didn't get into trouble. Bishop had me watch them as everyone else was busy. I have absolutely no idea why anyone thought the 92-ton war kitty was a good babysitter.

In reality I was more of a play structure than a babysitter. The kids were climbing all over me and I couldn't' stop them without hurting them. I did let a few of the older ones to into my cockpit where I let them run the simulator. A number of others though tried to catch my tail which was lazily drifting from side to side. If things got to noisy I roared to quiet them down.

Smith did manage to requisition some monitors where I allowed them to watch Kinzoku's collection of zoids anime or play her collection of zoids games we managed to get from her miraculously untouched warehouse. I don't use the word 'miraculously' lightly, the entire area looked like what I imagined the London Blitz looked like with buildings half blown up and craters everywhere.

At least the babysitting thing gave me time to learn how to speak without using radio signals. It took me a fair amount of time but despite its trivial nature I wanted to be able to speak without aid. Several hours had passed and the kids had calmed down a bit and most were watching the anime or playing the games. Some had just passed out, either in the sleeping bags provided or on top of me.

Miller walked into my 'daycare' as quietly as he could, connecting to me for a private conversation. "Shadow, how're things here?"

"Calm, finally. I'm not much of a babysitter, never was."

"You remember that much?"

"Enough to know I was bad with kids. If it weren't for Kinzo's collection I doubt I would have kept my sanity in check."

"Do you think it's wise to let them watch that? Considering how some of them lost their parents to them?"

"You happen to have access to any kid friendly show?"

"… Now that I think about it… no."

"Right. Anyway what did you need me for?"

"The godos want to do a diagnostic on your computer systems, make sure they weren't damaged when the brachios uploaded all of that information."

"Sure thing, I'll be just a moment." I gently shook to wake up the kids on my back and spoke softly. "Wake up kids, I have to go for now." They sleepily climbed down me and I left Miller to look after them. On my way to the support hanger I saw a brachios duck behind a hanger. I wasn't aware of any brachios joining us. I walked over to where I saw it but there was nothing there. I was probably seeing things.

I was seeing things.

I moved with extra speed to the support hanger.

The godos were supervising the setup of the diagnostic station. It wasn't much, just cables that would be connect to whoever's on it isolated computers. I stepped into it and let the godos and human techies wire me up. It was a bit uncomfortable as the cables were attached to my body, but it felt just plain weird as I was hooked up to the computers. It wasn't anything I could describe as simple as saying needles were being put straight in my mind. It felt... more like my mind was opening up to another mind. There really is no way to fully describe the feeling.

"Ok, now we're just going to put you into a sleep cycle you apparently have while we check your systems." Ex explained.

"What do you mean apparently have? I do sleep."

"Well… that's actually part of why we wanted to check up on you. None of the rest of us can dream, or even sleep for that matter."

"You can't?" As I thought about it I never did see any of the others sleep. I just assumed they did when I wasn't around. I didn't see anything wrong with sleeping as a zoid, especially considering how my mind was still human. Humans needed sleep so why couldn't I? I felt myself drift off as the process began. I yawned and lied down where I was.

I was carted back to my cell again and dumped there. I lost track of how long I've been here… weeks? Months? Being constantly drugged to sleep made it hard for any of us to figure out how long we've been in this cursed place. Others were brought to fill out the other cells. A pair of twins, Sam and Bobby, were to the right of my cell. They didn't talk much but when they did it was hard to know which one was actually talking. To the left of Miller's cell two more men, Evan and Max, argued constantly on whatever they could think of. While it was mostly pointless they did provide us with some means of conversation to keep our spirits from hitting rock bottom.

Sadly, it didn't do much to distract us from the changes happening to us. My skin began to darken as Evan, Max and Rebecca's went paler. The twins Miller and Rush had the most bizarre discoloration. Rush was turning blue as the others were turning green. We did discuss ways to escape but we never had any plans that had a sliver of a chance at working.

One day we were debating if global warming was actually real when the guards came. "Milly, you're up." We were on a first name basis with the guards by that point. They weren't bad people, so long as you followed the rules. Rushmore once tried to take a guard's weapon we didn't see him for a week, at least we thought it was a week. When he came back he was weak, and didn't even remember his name. I stood by the door as Rebecca stood at the back of the cell. I held out my hands to be handcuffed but it never happened. "Not this time, follow us, and don't cause any trouble."

Admittedly the only reason I behaved that one time is because I was curious as to what was going to happen that was so important, I didn't need to be restrained. I was taken to a lab, but not the one I was used to. Even though I couldn't see much I knew that the other lab had a medical table and bright light to blind me. This one didn't, instead it looked like all the equipment was hugging the walls. But the most noticeable thing in the room was a man in a lab coat in the center of the room. Something about him frightened me and I started to back away only to be stopped by the guards.

I woke up when the diagnostic was done. I didn't remember much after the guards took my arms and dragged me to the lab coat guy. "Good news Shadow, you're fine." Said Ex. I looked to screen and saw a technical readout of myself with a number of green lights indicating I was fine. I walked out of the hanger to go for a run. I passed by several red horns painted to match the tanks. I kind of liked how it looked. I started wondering if I should get a new paintjob. I wasn't exactly thinking of getting something military, I liked my black armor.

I put that thought aside as Kinzoku joined me in her gun sniper at the gates. "Kinzo? What are you doing here?"

"It's probably best if no one leaves alone. After all the last time you were alone you were almost killed."

"Kinzo…"

"I'm coming with you." She said that in a way that told me even a direct order wouldn't discourage her. I sighed and let her follow me. I passed through the battlefield where US troops were still sifting through it, hauling back still working zoids or parts from dead ones. I couldn't stop myself from feeling sympathy for the dead zoids. I got over it as we passed through it.

We stopped by Kinzoku's warehouse to pick up more stuff for the kids. I stood guard as loaded her gun sniper with the more durable stuff she could trust the kids to handle. It was pretty boring but it gave me time to sort through the information the brachios gave me. Tedious as it was, there was no way to get it out of my systems for the intelligence people to sift through it. It seemed content to not come out of me whatsoever which was strange as I've been able to upload data to computers before without any resistance.

I looked around the area and saw the head of a brachios disappear behind a building. I checked my sensors and nothing was there, but they weren't foolproof. "Kinzo, I'm going to go check something out."

"What is it?"

"I don't know. Wait here." I walked to where I saw the brachios but it wasn't there. I thought I was going nuts but I saw it again and chased after it. I never expected something that looked and moved like a brachiosaurus could be so agile as it ran through town. I should have easily caught up with it but for some reason I wasn't gaining any ground on him. I managed to catch up to him by leaping onto and over the buildings. I stood in its path growling but something on my sensors indicating something was behind me caused me to glance backwards to see a tank patrol coming my way. I looked back to the brachios and it was gone

I went back to Kinzoku who was ready to go. "Hey, what did you see?"

"Nothing."


	13. Chapter 13

I watched as the sun rose up from the horizon. I was grateful that at least one thing on this world hasn't changed. I thought about the irony that my life ended trying to take a picture of a sunset, and now I was seeing a sunset for the first time as a zoid. I wondered why I never looked at the sun rise or set before. Well my first night I was unconscious… the morning after I was in a military hanger, then I was passed out again… I was very busy.

I wondered what my place in the world would be after this war was over. I knew I didn't want to become a foreign creature to humanity, but I knew I couldn't ever return to the way I was before, even if I was made completely human again. Maybe I could go back to photography, my new body was definitely more versatile than my human one. I didn't have to worry about food or water anymore and my eyes were actual cameras now.

My thoughts were interrupted when Major Smith spoke. "Quite a sight huh?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I wish I had time in the past to watch it in the past few days."

"It is hard to believe that we're actually at war with something once considered toys."

"I think I'd prefer to be a toy actually. A lot less lethal."

He chuckled at that statement. "You and a lot of other people. But we're grateful that you're here to help."

"How's the leg?"

"Fine. I won't be fighting anytime soon but I'm taking the fastest flying S.O.B. I can get my hands on and taking back the skies."

"I would suggest either a raynos or a storm sworder then. Best flyers I know of."

"I have no idea what either of those are."

"Both are high performance flying zoids that specialize in high speed aerial combat. Although the storm sworders are better."

"Duly noted. So what's your plan now?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's your new plan to take down the local Armada?"

"Uh… still working on that. The recent attack means I have to rethink my plan… but we'll need to attack soon if we want to maintain the initiative."

"Agreed. But what are we supposed to do to take them out?"

Silence was my answer. I hadn't figured out exactly what we were supposed to do. Most of our ground forces were either tanks damaged in the fighting or captured zoids the military was still learning how to use, while we only had a few pteras and most of our normal aircraft suffered some form of damage. Not to mention the ammo on the base wasn't infinite. Most of the ammo for the zoids were salvaged from the ones we killed in combat.

Not to mention most of their zoids were computer controlled so they always had the numbers advantage, but on the other hand our own troops were better in comparison. And the red horns we captured weren't pushovers either. We had the numbers to let all of our zoids be piloted, for now at least. Most of them were people who weren't even trained by Rush or one of the others but they were learning fast.

"We need to attack now."

"What?"

"If we don't attack now, we'll be attacked again with better zoids and greater numbers. Now is our only chance, while they're still recovering."

"We're still recovering from that attack."

"I know, but we did come out of it better than they did."

"Alright, alright. What's your plan then?"

"Same as before. Only this time we take everyone who can fight. Anyone who can't has to load up on a transport out of here."

Smith sighed. "Alright, I'll propose it to the general. I make no promises though."

I walked to the support hanger and awaited Bishop's answer. I knew I had to fine tune the plan a lot but right now we needed the simple version. I looked through the brachios data to see if there were any details that could help. I lucked out when I stumbled upon their defense plans. I copied as much as I could by virtual hand into another file.

Smith came by not to long after I finished up the map of the enemy base. "Shadow, plan is a go. But we need several hours to get everything ready."

"No problem. I'll send Bishop and Bates a map of the enemy base I lucked out on in the brachios data."

"Do you have any idea on who he was?"

I shook my head. "No, I wish I did though. He might have just won us this area. He at least deserves a name on his grave."

"I guess. Is there anything you need?" I thought about it for a bit. Most of what I needed was either built into myself or Rush. Anything else was with the commando team accompanying us. Although…

"Nothing needed… but there is one thing I could use."

"Yeah?"


	14. Chapter 14

Rush Kinzoku Rev and I were dashing through the forest with a commando team either safely strapped in our cockpits or were strapped to Rush's side on a makeshift harness that allowed him to allow him to carry half a dozen humans on each side, albeit a bit uncomfortably for both Rush and the humans. The only modification to myself was my new black digital camouflage paint job that, while unnecessary, made me feel more like an actual warrior than just a person caught in a bad situation.

Already we could hear the battle for control of the sky taking place overhead as the US military used its captured pteras, fighter jets and helicopters against the Armada's own pteras, redlers and occasional raynos. Normally such a battle would've gone to the Armada but I was receiving reports on the main force comprised of molgas red horns tanks and whatever else had armor plating and wheels lead by Bishop's gun tiger and Miller, was fighting through an enemy counter attack of red horns molgas godos and even a small number of iron kongs.

Despite the lack of resistance climbing up the mountain, it was still slow going. Even though Rev was built with mountain climbing in mind she wasn't exactly as fast as Rush normally was. Rush himself was actually slowed down trying not to shake loose his harness. That left Kinzoku and I as the vanguard. Our job was to make sure Rev and Rush actually made it to the top.

Occasionally we did encounter a bear-like zoid called a bearfighter or an actual climber wolf but thanks to the jamming equipment the military installed on Kinzoku's gun sniper, they never had the chance to call out for help or give us away.

The infantry team was comprised sixteen humans. Most of them were simply elite fighters however two of them were combat engineers whose job was to shut down the factory in a way so that it could be turned on later by the US military and three others were chosen because they were the best pilots Rush managed to train. Their job was to find the best zoids with Kinzoku's help and commandeer them to help me and Rush keep the base.

That was the plan anyway. So far things were going well in the sense that we weren't detected by the main base. We had just taken out another patrol and were waiting on Rush and Rev to catch up.

"Hey Shadow, why did you and the other H-types turn on the Armada?" Kinzoku asked. It was a bit awkward for me to try and answer without revealing that I was human.

"That's… a bit complicated."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it wasn't ever just one thing… uh… you see what makes me and the others different is our cores. We were made to be more powerful, more adaptable, I doubt they wanted us to be sentient."

"So they tried to kill you?"

"Uh… not really. Not yet at least. Look… I don't really want to talk about it. Believe it or not it's how our cores were created that made us rebel."

"Oh… I see."

We climbed above the base and Kinzoku set up as the commandos got off of Rush. He shook off his harness and got into position next to me. We waited for the commandos to get into position before we started running down as safely as possible down the side of the mountain towards the base. I fired missiles at the few molgas and godos as Kinzoku sniped the red horns as fast as she could. As we landed behind the walls Rush and I attacked the other zoids that were still operational.

The commandos grappled down the side of the cliff as soon as things started blowing up. With all the attention on us, no one had noticed them coming down. Rev was after the commandos but by then the area was secure. Kinzoku hopped down and joined us. The commandos were clearing the inside of the base which was easy thanks to most of the real soldiers fighting the main force. The three who were supposed to grab zoids to help keep the area under our control managed to find a few incomplete shield ligers. It took us a bit of time to shut down the factory but by then it had already made several shield ligers, not that anyone on our side was complaining. All the prisoners, which was mostly just non-combatants who's only concern was making zoids and not getting killed by the US commandos pointing guns in their faces.

The commandos also reported finding several labs and prison cells with captives. Several of the prisoners had orange eyes but I didn't hear any reports of dramatic skin discoloration. From what I could hear, they were all prisoners of war who were experimented on. I told the commandos not to touch anything in the labs and that any prisoners who willing and able to fight get a quick tutorial of how to pilot a shield liger and was to help us out. Those who weren't fighting were told to hunker down in the factory. When it was all sorted out we had eight ligers, not including myself.

Kinzoku reverted to her non-fighter self as soon as she saw the inside of the factory. I don't I needed to turn on my radio to hear her squeal of joy at the sight of all the incomplete zoids. What made it better was that she was in her gun sniper and it was mimicking her excitement. One of the commandos inside forwarded the security footage to everyone who had a screen on the base. It was hilarious to watch the giant mechanical velociraptor act all fangirl. If she knew she didn't care. I kept an eye on my sensors as I watched.

We were still receiving reports on the main force's progress. So far it seemed evenly matched but without the factory churning out more zoids for the Armada victory seemed to be in our sights. The air battle was going even better as we had actual pilots shoot down the mostly pteras drone force. The battle looked like it would go on for some time. I spent my time letting people use me to get better at handling their own shield ligers. While I doubted they could be experts with the half hour I granted each of them it was enough to let them not be absolutely destroyed.

Several hours had passed and I was letting Rev calibrate my gear with the equipment that was actually meant to work on zoids and not just makeshift stuff. It was dull but necessary in the long run. The commandos had spread out along the perimeter and Kinzoku was watching the base security feeds. It was all going so well, but something was telling me we weren't finished yet.

"Kinzoku, how are things looking?"

"All clear on all cameras. We got a call in for reinforcements from the Armada dudes but I sent them a message saying that a pteras crashed into the line and we had to stop to make repairs. They seem to have bought it."

"Ok then."

Maybe I was just feeling jittery about being back at where all of this started. I didn't exactly have a good time here. I glanced to Rev and I learned enough about godos body language to know she wasn't fond of being here either. The sooner we were gone the better.

Things got a bit boring just waiting around that Kinzoku left her gun sniper in the care of one of the freed prisoners who didn't get a shield liger to go for a walk. I had the security feeds transferred to me so I could keep an eye on her. Technically while she was part of my team she was still a civilian. I did trust her but she couldn't actually defend herself outside of her gun sniper. Not unless shocking then boring you to death with hundreds of zoids facts counted as a self-defense technique.

An explosion caught everyone's attention. I rushed out to see a lone black red horn marching its way towards the factory. If I remembered correctly, black red horns were called dark horns. Supposedly they were more powerful than regular red horns, but I doubted it could withstand an attack from nine shield ligers, a command wolf and a gun sniper. I would've counted Rev in that but our godos weren't exactly combat proficient and did their best to stay out of the fighting.

I lined up with the shield ligers in front of the main gates and we fired our beam cannons and shock cannons at it. We felt confident until the smoke cleared. The dark horn was still there but it had an energy shield absorbing our attacks. I growled and turned on my own shield, instinctively charging it head on. Our shields collided and sparks flew. My shield strained and I froze. Both shields dropped and the dark horn roared at me. It was about to fire, but my new friends were faster on the draw and blasted that thing to bits. Infantry rushed it and pried open the cockpit only to find that no one was there. My ability to move returned moments later and checked over the security feeds.

All seemed normal but I noticed that Kinzoku wasn't on any of the cameras. I shrugged and assumed she was taking a personal moment in the restroom. We dragged the dead dark horn into the factory in case anyone else from the Armada decided to come by. We dumped it into what we guessed was a recycler. I didn't want to watch as I felt it would've been similar to watching a human being harvested for organs to me.

Instead I wandered around the factory as best I could. It was a bit strange seeing the half constructed zoids. However, when I stopped when I came across core manufacturing. I saw how the cores were being grown much in what appeared to be some sort of incubator. I found it fascinating as my optical sensors registered slow but steady growth on all cores. It was kind of like watching babies grow.

I checked the security feeds again and noticed that Kinzoku wasn't on any of the cameras again. I frowned and alerted some of the prisoners strong enough to search for her. I told them to look grab weapons just in case we missed anyone. I was admittedly worried about Kinzoku and hoped we didn't miss any Amada forces lurking in the shadows.

I watched the few members of the search party search the base, locking doors behind them to make sure the cleared areas stayed cleared. I walked outside to work off some nervous energy. Rush joined me to my surprise. "You're worried. I can tell."

"Is it that obvious?"

"No. You hide it well."

"Thank you. Is there anything you need?"

"Just making sure you were fine. I don't like this place at all. I'm not sure about you… but I remember what happened here."

"I do… some of it anyway. Enough not to want to be here."

"I agree completely. If it were up to me I'd just blast this entire base to oblivion."

"I dunno if I'd do that. Personally when this over I do know I'll never come back here again."

"Maybe. How's the search for your greatest fan?"

"Kinzoku?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, uh, so far nothing."

"What do you think is the cause of her disappearance?" I remained silent. I didn't feel like spouting my fears to him. "I see. You know you were the first to never come back you know." I was surprised to hear this and simply stared at him. "It wasn't a pleasant time for us as you can imagine. We all thought you were dead. When I heard your voice back in that cave, I was happy to see you were alive."

"Well… nice seeing you again Rushmore."

"You too Milly."

"Commander Shadow!" My attention was drawn to the commander of the commando team from inside the factory. "The factory is running by itself! We can't stop it and we're locked out!" Rush and I ran to blast our ways inside but were stopped by a powerful energy shield. We bombarded it as hard as we could with the help of the other ligers.

"Rev, you're inside, what's happening?" I yelled over the communications.

"I-I don't know! I'm locked in the repair ward but I can see a gun sniper being built. But… it's not a normal gun sniper. I think it's an H-type!"

"All ligers, turn on your shields and ram that barrier hard!" We all did and the barrier went down quickly enough for Rush to run inside. I managed to recover more quickly since I knew what to expect this time and had taken the necessary measures. I bolted inside and joined Rush only to meet a door. I checked the security feeds I managed to regain with help of the commandos on scene to see the gun sniper in construction. From the data feeds I was receiving it looked like it was being built to match my own capabilities and then some.

It came out right were Rush and I were standing. Its behavior was strange to say at least. And by strange I mean it just collapsed. Rush and I glanced at each other and I nudged it with my paw. I heard a groan come via radios in and my eyes widened.

It was Kinzoku's voice.


	15. Chapter 15

I was horrified when I heard Kinzoku's voice come over the radio. I immediately started my own localized jamming to prevent anyone from hearing her. "Rush... can you…" I couldn't finish my sentence but he nodded without a word to go make up an excuse to call off the search party. I stood guard over who I desperately hoped was just Kinzoku in a gun sniper. If she was made into an H-type this quickly it had more implications than just immediate consequences.

"Commander Shadow, a storm sworder-class zoid is taking off at high speeds!"

"SHOOT IT DOWN!"

"Yes Ma'am!" I heard the gun fire but from the sounds of it nothing was connecting. It couldn't have been coincidence that it was fleeing just as this gun sniper came out. I received a video message from an unknown source. I let it play.

I saw the man from my nightmares. The one in the lab coat. He was standing in a hidden lab/hanger that wasn't on the map. I saw Kinzoku strapped to a table exactly like the one I was strapped to when I was a prisoner here. I also saw a black storm sworder in the background.

"Hello Liger Shadow. It's been awhile." He said that with a certain smugness that irritated me, but I did detect hints of pride when he called me Liger Shadow. "You're certainly grown beyond my wildest expectations. Love the new paint job by the way. Now… I'm sure you've noticed that I have your friend here. I watched her on the security feeds as she was so enthusiastic to see all of the zoids in my little workshop." I dug my claws into the ground with a growl watching as he pulled out a set of several needles. "I figured that since she is such a fan of zoids she should be one, don't you?" he began injecting them into Kinzoku one at a time. "Now… normally I'd need several weeks for these things to ensure they fully work but I'm pressed for time sadly. Fortunately, thanks to you I know exactly how to turn her. Oh don't worry, she won't have any problems, physically or mentally." He stuck another needle into her and I saw her skin darken further.

"You see; time is the key to being able to control the H-types. You… were made a too little quickly for my… benefactor's benefits. But I thank you Liger Shadow. You've shown me the folly it was to try and control the H-type cores." He stuck the final needle into Kinzoku and carted her to a loader of sorts that took her away. "I wish I could stay longer but I must go. If I am to continue my work, I doubt any government is going to appreciate my talents. The Armada is fine for now. Farewell Liger Shadow. We WILL meet again. Give my regards to Night Sniper. Oh, and since I know you're just dying to hunt me down, I'll give you my name, if only to give you a reason to live, my creation. I am Nathan G. Ferguson, head researcher of the Zoidian Armada." The video ended but I didn't care. He was gone.

Right now my concern was making sure Kinzoku was alright. I dragged her into the repair ward and let Rev try and wake her up. "Well?" I asked after a few minutes.

"Well I doubt it's a problem with anything physical and her computer systems are fine."

"So what's wrong?"

"I don't know. I'm running a test on her core now… that's odd."

"What?"

"It looks like her core is only half active."

"What does that mean?"

"I have absolutely no idea. But… ah… I'm only getting half the normal power output than normal… I'm gonna try to bring it up to full power."

Kinzoku groaned again and she picked herself up off of the floor. I connected with her as she did. "Ugh… what happened?"

"Kinzoku… don't freak out…"

"Why would I freak out?" I mentally counted down to when she- "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME!?" Well, that basically. All things considered she was taking it rather well.

"Calm down, we know exactly what you're going though."

"CALM DOWN!? I'M A ZOID!? Please tell me this is just the recurring dream I've been having for a month straight?"

"Uh… well… actua- wait woah, woah, back up. Seriously?"

"… No… um… well…"

"… Well things just got awkward."

"Um… yeah…. Uh…. So… uh…."

"Look… we know what you're going though."

"How could you? How is this… even…" she looked at me then Rev. "Are the H-types… humans?"

"Unfortunately…"

"And… that means… you… and the others…."

"Yeah."

"And… so… uh… what do I do now?"

"That… well actually… I'm not sure." Kinzoku seemed depressed if I was reading her right. I knew the pain she was feeling.

"What about my zoids collection?" Ok so maybe I wasn't feeling all of the pain she was feeling. "I mean how am I supposed to manage it with these?" She waves her hands… claws… things.

"… Uh…" I glanced to Rev who was slightly amused at this. Admittedly Kinzoku was taking this really well. "Well… considering on how what you really are is a state secret that probably just became the least of your worries."

"Oh. That. Uh… right…"

"For now, you're just going to have to stay with us. You're not exactly going to fit in anywhere else right now…"

"Oh…"

"Yeah… um… welcome to our life I guess."

"Do I get a cool code name?"

"Uh… Night Sniper?"

"AWESOME!"

"Well… you'll also need to find a way disguise your voice."

"Why? Oh… wait... me being human is a secret…. I still sound like me… ok yeah I'll work on that."

"For now just… stay silent ok?"

"Right. Uh… how do I fire my weapons?" I turned on my shield to block the accidental attack from her beam weapons. "Uh… sorry. I'm just gonna go learn how to use my new body." She turned and accidentally knocked Rev over with her tail. "Sorry!" She bent over to help Rev back up only to knock her tail into me. It was going to be a long day…

The battle ended with the US victorious. There were casualties but most of them were just in zoids. Rush managed to explain Kinzoku's 'disappearance' by saying she was probably kidnapped by whoever was in the storm sworder. I gave Bishop a full report on exactly what happened, well, two versions at least. One to satisfy anyone without clearance to known the H-type secret, and one for those who do know.

Bishop wasn't exactly pleased that Kinzoku was now a zoid. He lectured me on team responsibility and that I should've kept a closer eye on her. I felt that if my head sunk any lower it'd fall off completely. I already knew all of this and being reminded of it just hit me in the core.

Rush was busy teaching Kinzoku how to act like a zoid, and I had the job of bringing the others in my team up to speed on what happened to Kinzoku and who was to blame for it. I gauged their reactions and while everyone was depressed to hear that Kinzoku was now Night Sniper, they were obviously interested in hearing more about Ferguson. Admittedly I didn't know much about him myself. I searched the database in the factory earlier but it was wiped clean of the entire zoids research and development section. The only thing I could do was show them the video Ferguson sent me.

"So… he's the one responsible for us?" Asked Miller.

"Yeah."

"And what do you think he meant by time is the key to controlling us?"

"You got me. I'm just surprised he was able to make Kinzo into a gun sniper that fast."

"Yeah… so what's the plan now?"

"Now? We go out to wherever the Armada is hiding and we blast them all the way to Zi. Any objections?"


	16. Chapter 16

I bolted awake from my dream. It wasn't scary, but it was definitely in the weird category. I dreamt I was in a restaurant with the WORST customer service ever where they were more interested in making Lego robots work more than getting me my order.

I shook my head as I walked out of the hanger. It was the middle of the night and the others weren't around. I walked through the now repopulated town. Now that the area was secure people were being allowed to return home to start rebuilding. Some decorations were still up from the victory celebration earlier. The entire town was grateful to me and the others that they hauled Kinzoku's life sized liger model to the center of town, painted it to match my colors and left it in the middle of the park. I would never live that down.

I passed by one of the shield ligers the military donated to the town's police force. The idea was that they would help deal with any local threats as the military couldn't keep all of the now top notched zoid pilots (Not to mention us H-types) in one location. They would act as a local militia and aide the military in any operations in the local area while military pilots went out and taught others how to pilot zoids in order to strengthen militaries worldwide.

My team and I were going to be shipped out soon to help out in areas that were under immense pressure. Smith, Bates and Bishop were reassigned to join us in our travels as liaisons and to ensure we weren't treated as regular tools. Smith and Bates were allowed to learn the secret of the H-type and to say both were surprised and disgusted would've been an understatement. As I thought about it I wondered if that one Armada pilot I met the day I awoken knew the full details of the H-types. Thinking back, I doubted it.

I paused as I approached the edge of town. A brachios was at the edge of the forest. It stared at me for a minute before running into the forest. I gave chase with the intent of capturing it. I wanted to know why I kept seeing brachios.

It was agile enough to weave through the trees with ease at a speed that surprised me. It reminded me of the one I chased through town after the attack on the base. Eventually I came to a clearing and the brachios just stood there, staring me down. I growled as I slowly approached it. "Who are you? Why are you appearing everywhere? Why can't my sensors see you?" I asked these questions slowly to not sound desperate. It said nothing as I came closer. Instead it lowered its head, making me cautious. Something about this guy set off an alarm so I stopped about a full length of me away from the brachios' head. Silence dominated the area as we stared each other down.

Something huge appeared on my sensors immediately behind me and I turned, panicked by the sudden appearance of… nothing. I realized too late I was duped as the brachios lunged and bit my midsection. I felt tremendous pain but there was no damage registered to my physical being. I felt something was being pulled out as the brachios tugged on me. My vision started to fade the more it tugged before something grabbed me, but not the physical me, the virtual me. I gasped and saw the half brachios man I saw at the attack on the base.

He pried me out of my bubble and took my place. I pounded on my bubble, trying to get back in to no avail. I watched as he shifted from half brachios to half shield liger before my very eyes. He glanced to me through the bubble. "Why are you doing this?" I yelled at him.

He didn't answer but he did seem sorry. I roared and pounded harder on the bubble. Even though I figured that brute strength wouldn't get me anywhere I did know that this was my body and I wasn't going to let anyone have it. He ran to where he was buried and started digging it up with MY claws. I realized that maybe he was trying to get back to his own body. I stopped pounding and watched the feeds from outside the bubble. No one was around as the brachios was buried at the edge of the forest away from the base.

He dragged out his body by the neck and laid it out on its side. To my surprise (And horror) he started tearing his body apart until he got to the core. With enviable precision he cut it out and carefully pulled it out. After what I guessed was a quick check for damage he activated a program I've never seen before and his core began glowing. It started merging with my body and I felt a strange sensation. I began to glow as well and I felt different.

I felt my body change quite a bit in a way I didn't think possible. My armor got stronger and lighter, my claws felt denser and my muscles… motors… whatever get more powerful. I also grew a pair of thrusters on my back that melded into my body seamlessly when not used. I saw reports flow into the bubble as new electronic warfare systems were installed, including jamming and decryption programs.

I wondered how all of this was possible as I stopped glowing. Then I remember what I read about how H-types are supposed to adapt with new experiences. So… if I absorbed his core then I probably got his experiences? Then how did my body change like it did? None of it made sense to me. I just wanted to be in control again so I tried banging against the bubble again but this time I was sent flying backwards a bit. He said nothing as he began running… somewhere. I wish I could tell but my vision began to blur the farther I got from the bubble.

I scrambled back to the bubble and my vision returned to normal. "HEY!" I yelled at the guy in my bubble angrily. "Just who the hell do you think you are?" He finally turned to me after several minutes and looked straight at me.

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Considering how you high jacked my body and just made me EAT your own core, I think you owe me answers."

"…. Fine. I just need your body to get revenge- "

"Isn't that a bit clichéd?"

"What?"

"Taking me over like some sort of ghost to get revenge on who you want."

"… Will you just let me finish?"

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead."

"Thank you. I just need your body to get revenge on the man who made us. Then you can have your body back."

"What did you do to my body? And how is it that you're still… around?"

"I absorbed my core to make you stronger."

"I can see that. Why?"

"You don't know the sort of defenses he has. I need the strength."

"But why take me over? And for that matter how did you even get into me?"

"I think that's enough questions for now." He went back to ignoring me again and I tried to speak again but nothing came out of my mouth. I mentally sighed and had to go along, for now.


	17. Chapter 17: KINZO TIME!

"I'm just saying, Shadow's been gone awhile." I told the others. Shadow had been gone since last night, and no one was that worried. True General Bishop was discussing with what was left of the Pentagon on where we were needed the most. Everyone assumed Shadow was just taking some personal time.

"Kinzoku, you seem to forget Shadow is a cat. Cats do as they please." Shade chimed in. Everyone stared at him. "What?" We just collectively sighed.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt to check in on her. I'll contact her." Miller stepped outside and left the rest of us to our own devices. Figuratively speaking since… we were our own devices… I wonder if I could install my games to my systems... that would be cool… focus Kinzo. Missing Shield Liger, well not officially missing I mean I was the only one that missed her. Miller walked back in a few minutes later looking concerned. At least I think it's concern. "No contact."

"Are you sure she's in range?" asked Rush.

"If she were that would mean she's miles from here. I don't see any reason for her to be out that far without telling us. Kinzoku, go see if you can track her down. We'll stay here and prepare to move out." I saluted as best I could and ran out.

One of the local militia… police… local liger pilots saw Shadow walking back towards base but then ran towards the forest. I followed the leads and found liger footprints. Actually now that I think about it wouldn't they be paw prints? I shook my head and followed them. I accidentally spun out when I turned around a tree and my tail knocked into that tree. I lost my balance and slammed into another tree. I groaned as I got back up. I was beginning to realize why humans don't have tails, they're way too hard to move around with. Especially when it doubles as a sniper rifle.

It felt awkward to actually fire it, especially when I was aiming. I mean it's cool to actually be able to see what's behind me at all times but it was my tail scope perspective. It was like having eyes on my...Actually, forgot I said anything!

I kept following the liger paw trail until I came across the brachios grave, and I was freaked out when I saw the brachios' dead body out of its grave. My first reaction was blasting it with my guns yelling "DIE ZOMBIE DIE!" until I realized it was already dead… I was so glad no one was around to watch that… I'm already known as the "Fool Sniper" back at base. Especially after that one incident with that tank... Hey how come the others aren't like this? I mean they're perfectly in sync with their bodies and I'm just… well knocking into everything.

I investigated the body and saw that it was torn open and something was ripped out of it. I realized it was liger claws that ripped the poor thing apart and I wondered why. Further investigation showed that the core was missing. I skipped over the internal debate on whether or not to call this in and just followed Shadow's paw prints.

She was heading towards the mountain range at a speed I didn't think she could hit. I knew something was off… did she have boosters I didn't know about? Eventually I came across several zoid corpses. All the signs pointed to a single combatant just ripping them apart. I found a lone pilot hanging from the busted cockpit of an iron kong. Walking up to it, I started hissing to try and scare him.

He didn't get up so instead I pulled him out and carried him as I continued to follow the tracks. I didn't notice him waking up until he was screaming bloody murder. I set him down and he tried to run, so I fired a few rounds in his path and he stopped. I was getting good at this! Now… how did Shadow do that thing where she talks without a radio… "Where is the liger that attacked you?"

"I don't have to tell you anything."

"… Ok then! Would you rather be left out here all alone, with no help, or do you want me to just step on you and end your suffering quick?" I giggled as the man's face paled for added effect.

"I-it just came out of nowhere! Tore into us like we were nothing! T-that's all I know I swear!"

"Ok then! Have a nice day!" I kept following the tracks, leaving the pilot behind as he yelled at me to come back. I ignored him and kept going. Ok so It might've seemed heartless but I was sure I'd come back and pick him up. Maybe. Possibly… oh well too late now.

I followed the tracks all day and night before I tried calling Miller, only to find that he was out of my range. With a sigh I kept going, hoping I wouldn't be missed as much as Shadow. Sure I was the rookie, and completely new at this… and never have been in a battle where I'm the zoid…. I hoped they missed me as much as Shadow.

I kept coming across dead zoids that looked like a liger ripped them apart single-handedly, one battlefield in particular I came across a dead snipe master whose core was ripped out in a fashion similar to the brachios. Something told me that was important somehow. I inspected the corpse for any clues as to why Milly would do stuff like this. My scans recognized it as an H-type… like the brachios… I searched through my systems for anything that might relate to it.

I came across a program that made no sense to me. It didn't have a name or a description so I ran it through my on-board simulator. That… I kinda modified to work with my games. I saw how it caused the core of one H-type to merge with another for some sort of result. Didn't say what it was though. But obviously it was a means to strengthen one H-Type. Either that or it means they get the memories of that other H-type. Or both! Or nothing? It did SOMETHING that's all I think it should matter.

It took me some time to actually find out where Milly was… how much time did pass? Let's see I saw the sun go down twice… so it's been two days. With no contact from anyone. Yeah I really hope people were following me. Then again if something's wrong with Shadow that isn't her fault but it causes her to attack her friends maybe it was best I was alone. Then again… you know what I just hope I get back up at the convenient time where Shadow's fine and I need help.

I got tired of running, not that I could get physically tired or anything anymore, which was cool, but really mentally I wanted a change of pace so I started to skip! … Don't judge me! I think we've already established I'm weird. I probably should've payed more attention to where I was going when I came across that pitfall… that I fell in… well frolicked into…

I didn't really know how to get out of a pitfall on my own. Not that I was all the way in you see… My head and neck was holding me up on one end and my tail awkwardly kept me up on the other end. I tried to reach the edge but my arms were too tiny. I realized why t-rexes were extinct… couldn't get themselves out of pitfalls… heh… for some reason I thought that would be funnier.

I struggled to get out but to no avail. I grumbled as I barely managed to get my feet to the edge but that was about it. The sun went down again and I was alone for I think half the night. Something grabbed me and I yelped. "B-back off pal! I'm dangerous! Um… roar?" I was pulled out of the pit and left on my back. I managed to get back on my feet and saw a white saber tiger staring me in the face. "Uh… roar times two?"

I got a call from the tiger and saw a man in an Armada uniform that's seen better days in my video feed. "Cute. Why are you out here?" I debated whether or not to tell this man… what would Shadow do? Lie? Attack? … I'm gonna go with lie.

"I'm looking for a friend." … Ok so much for lying. But vague was good. Kept him in the dark.

"Liger Shadow is heading north to a hidden base. Good luck." Is this man psychic or something? He disappeared from my sensors completely after he uploaded the coordinates to me. I guessed he was using some epic stealth systems because I couldn't find him no matter what I used. I wished I had sonar like Shadow did but at least the guy got me out of the pit and helped me find out where Shadow was going. I started running as fast as I could to the base but I fell into another pitfall… head first this time... I hoped that friendly tiger pilot comes back…

He did! And after guiding me safely through the pitfall maze that someone set up for some reason, I resumed my epic quest to save my friend from the forces of… uh… evil I guess? Whatever. I ran at full speed to the hidden base.

You'd think finding a hidden base would be difficult, but when the door looks like it's been used as a target for missiles it's as plain the tail on my rump. I walked inside cautiously inside, prepared for anything. Except the trap door that caused me to fall down to the next floor. Why do holes hate me? I at least landed on my feet this time and looked around.

It looked like a loading bay of sorts, so maybe I didn't fall through a trap door? Just something that was meant to open up so a zoid could be quickly deployed. The remains of the door I fell through hit me on the head, cracking my cockpit window and giving me a nasty headache. At least I was right. I took comfort in that as I blasted my way through the other doors.

Alarms were going off all over base so I guessed Shadow was here, and judging from the seriousness of the guy shouting into the speakers she was kicking tail and taking names. I just followed the trail of broken zoids until I caught up with her. She had just finished off a saber tiger when I got to her. "Shadow! What are you doing here?"

She turned to me and if I didn't have my lightning fast reflexes honed by countless hours of video games I wouldn't have been able to dodge her shot at me. I simply stared at her as her shock cannon cooled down from the shot. Something was definitely off with her if she was shooting at me. I did the only thing I could think of! Running as fast as I could away from her. She ignored me completely as she tore through the base. I didn't want to hurt her but I had to bring her back before something happened.

I armed my tail sniper and aimed at Shadow's legs. I fired and nailed her through both of her left legs. I let out a happy noise until I saw the red horn about to crush her so I fired again and nailed it right between the eyes! "BOOYA!"

Considering this was my first combat action I was very pleased with myself. But considering I was in an enemy base I ran to drag my comrade out of here. I managed to snag her tail and started dragging the VERY heavy cat out of the base. I wondered why this place had halls that could allow zoids to roam them, I mean what's the purpose in letting any zoid with the fire power to level the place just roam free? I waited at the entrance with one gun pointed at Shadow and my tail ready to fire at anything coming out of the base. Several zoids did try to come out but I sniped them all with my tail.

… I was really glad no one heard that…

Shadow groaned awake and I pointed my guns at her a safe distance away. "Who are you and what did you do to Shadow!?" I yelled at the liger. It tried to get up on its feet but the shot I landed earlier caused it to wince and collapse on her side. "I won't ask again. What have you done to Shadow?"


	18. I apologise

Hello my faithful readers. It has come to my attention that some of you are... uh... confused and unhappy with how my story is going.

dragonnargus chapter 24 . 13h ago

The other reviewers are right, this chapter is confusing with constant perspective changes. This chapter also feel disconnected from the last chapter. I seem unlikely that the commands would want to be rid of their most reliable and most powerful allies just to see what make it tick.

C.B. Magique chapter 24 . Apr 7

I went past this story several times because the summary reads like one of those "I end up in X fandom world, now watch me go on random adventures and annoy main characters" stories that I hate but when I started to read it was so much more complex and interesting than I expected. However, in these latest chapters the perspective changes are really poorly handled, especially chapter 24. There's zero indication or context to help me out and it's really, really confusing to read. I was also disapppointed in the resolution between Chicago Fire mission and the latest chapter. It was also a very confusing read because I could tell that something Very Big And Important happened but it wasn't shown and what you tried to tell gave a vague impression. This is especially weird since that event would have been part of Orion's intro to the story and it's bizarre to see this character come out of literally nowhere at the beginning of the chapter. I hope you expand on that event in a future chapter. Maybe as a flashback?

I understand and appreciate you telling me to my face. I THRIVE OFF OF YOUR INPUT. Not just for this story, but generally fanfictions are a sort of.. practice run for me. They help me hone my story telling skills so that my own original fiction won't be... blech. So when you guys tell me I'm being confusing and unclear, I take that as a sign that I need to improve. So, I will be taking down chapter 24 and redoing the Chicago chapters as soon as I can replace them. Thanks for the input and basically making me realize when I put too much into a single chapter to make sense.

I also apologize for the lack of updates to the story, I'm trying to remedy that as well.


	19. Chapter 18: The Aftermath of KINZO TIME!

I was helpless to watch the brachios control my body. He absorbed the core of a snipe master as we made our way to the base. He seemed disappointed when all it gave me was an upgrade to the beam gun on my back, making it longer ranged and more accurate while boosting its strength. Although I was joined by a gun-sniper girl who looked just as confused as I was when I saw the brachios take me over. I wanted to say hi somehow but the brachios still had me on mute. Apparently the sniper was the same.

He used up the last of my missiles to blow open the doors to a hidden base of sorts and fought our way through it. To my surprise Kinzoku caught up to us. She asked what we were doing but the brachios fired at her. Enraged, I pounded on the bubble. The snipe master saw me do this and did the same.

All of a sudden a sharp pain in my left leg caused me to collapse, and judging by the brachios' exact same motion I figured Kinzoku managed to get us with a bullet. I ignored my pain and got back up, and resumed banging on the bubble hard. With the snipe master's help I managed to break through and slam the brachios into the side of the bubble, hoping to force him out.

He slammed his fist into my gut but I ignored it and sent a kick straight to the one weak spot shared by all guys. He reeled over in pain and I forced him out of my bubble and took control of my body back. I had to quickly figure out what was going on before I did anything.

What I saw was Kinzoku with a cracked canopy… or was it a windshield? I'll have to ask her later when she wasn't… pointing her guns at me… right…

"KINZOKU IT'S ME DON'T FIRE!" I yelled, praying that would work. Then I remembered I was dealing with Kinzoku, who was a goof even before becoming Night Sniper.

"If it is you prove it!"

"When you woke up as a zoid you asked if you were having a fangirl fantasy dream of being a zoid."

She lowered her guns, radiating embarrassment. "Not so loud... enough people know as is..." I did a quick damage assessment and figured it'd take me half an hour to heal enough to move. Which was bad because I picked up zoids on my sensors that would be here in ten minutes, both from within the base and a group of them coming up from the outside. Probably a patrol the brachios didn't get.

Kinzoku was surprisingly calm in this situation and pointed her deadly tail at the base entrance. I dragged myself to where I could shoot at the patrol closing in on us. Kinzoku fired in four times in rapid succession and four zoids stopped moving. Three more were closing in from the base while I prepared to deal with the seven zoids coming at us from the outside.

I armed my beam gun and pointed it at the closest zoid… which was a godos… accompanied by the exact zoids of my team… "Guys! Is that you?"

Rush was the one to respond. "Shadow, what the hell happened?"

"I'll explain when we scrap this base."

"What base?"

"The one with the blown open doors right there."

"Oh…"

A saber tiger ran out of the base, managing to evade Kinzoku's fire to get close enough to bite her tail off. I braced for the sight I was about to see when Rush leapt over her and tackled the tiger. It tried to get back up but one shot to the head was enough for the stay down. Several molga rushed out of the base only to be cut down by the Rush and some cannon fire from the turtles.

The godos rushed to tend to my wounds as the rest entered the base to secure it. The sounds of battle were easily heard and I wanted to join my team but the godos wouldn't let me get up. Not that I could resist. They turned me over on my back, which by itself is not a problem, it was the fact that Rev and Max held me down as Ex worked on my damaged parts.

About an hour later the US military came in and the godos were still holding me down. I didn't even try to struggle as it would probably make my problems worse than they already are. The Snipe Master and the Brachios, who went back to being half brachios, were still outside my bubble the at least the snipe master was making sure the brachios stayed away from my bubble.

I was finally allowed to get back up when several US 'Patriot' Horns as the troops started calling them surrounded me, with Bishop's gun tiger taking point. Standing up, I faced the smaller cat zoid. "Shadow, you have a lot of explaining to do."

I was escorted back to base and left in a hanger alone with Bates. No one actually needed to make sure Bates was alright being alone with me. I got the feeling that everyone was just confused with what happened. I told Bates everything that happened since the night the brachios took over. He wasn't surprised that the stuff I got from the brachios involved his personality as he theorized that the brachios probably didn't think it'd go through like that. Although he was surprised to hear about the 'upgrades' the brachios did, and how he did it.

At the end of my debriefing Bates left the hanger, leaving me all alone in the hanger to my thoughts. Well my thoughts and the two other zoids in my virtual space. The snipe master wasn't really a talker but she didn't seem opposed to letting me keep control. The brachios on the other hand looked angry that he had lost control. I did let them have their own simulation bubbles for their own virtual world to play in at least. Although to my surprise the snipe master went dibison in the simulation and pretty much mowed down that brachios many, many, many times.

I guess she was still angry he killed her.

It was a few hours before someone came by to check up on me. It was a sole technician who ran several tests on me. Some felt a bit invasive of my core systems but considering how I pretty much when AWOL I let it slide. This time.

Another several hours had passed before I sensed the presence of more zoids coming onto the base. It was another ability I picked up while under the brachios' control. Well actually that's not right. It was more like the brachios awakened the ability when he took over. I figured it was a very useful ability. Unfortunately, I couldn't sense how many if they were all grouped together and unless it's just a single solitary zoid I couldn't pinpoint the exact location, just the general direction.

Judging by the sounds I was hearing they seemed like turtles, but not like any turtle I was familiar with. I also heard godos marching in line with them but they sounded off too. I peeked outside using my infrared without actually opening any doors. I did see zoids walking in formation as human heat signals mixed in with the zoids. Whole teams of humans were examining the little formation. Shortly after a group of gun snipers joined the formation.

It was hard to study the zoids when you can only see their heat signatures. I was really hoping that someone would let me out soon. As if someone was listening, the door to the hanger opened but no one was there. With a sigh, I said "Night I know there." The resulting yelp followed by the rather embarrassing sounding crash confirmed my theory. The black gun sniper appears on her back of all thing struggling to get back up.

"Uh… hey Shadow. How'd you know it was me? Was it your sonar?"

"No, only you are that stupid to try to sneak up on me by opening the hanger door without anyone there."

"Hey!" Before she could continue any further, Smith walked in. He was looking considerably better than the last time I saw him. He was still on crutches but he was at least trying to use his injured leg.

"Shadow, you've been cleared for duty, on the condition that you let us know the next time you start seeing ghosts. Other than that we don't expect anything more than your usual services."

"Wait what? You're not asking me to step down?"

"Not this time no. There's still too much we don't know about the H-types, and we can't expect you to expect everything about yourself either considering your origin. And you haven't actually harmed anyone we care about anyway so that helped." I let out a sigh of relief. But there was still something bothering me.

"What was at the base you guys found me at anyway?"

"We… found another H-type manufacturer. It was shut down effective immediately and we managed to capture fourteen personnel. The rest either fled or were killed in the fighting. We did secure you another recruit though."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! It's gonna be awesome! She's a blade liger!" Said the ever-excited Kinzoku.

"Whatever you say Geek Sniper." I walked out of the hanger I was in and sought out this new recruit of mine. I did glance at the new US zoids and pretty much dropped my jaw. They were definitely cannon turtles, godos and gun snipers, but they looked different than what I was used to. The godos looked meaner, and the guns that were just above their wastes were replaced by gatlings. The turtles looked more… turtle-like, were a bit bigger and their shells looked like they were half tank as the cannon and AA guns were on a swivel turret. The gun snipers… actually didn't change that much. But a few were packing more missile launchers.

"Isn't it great!" Night said as she walked up to me. I looked at her as she continued. "I suggested that we should give our troops an edge by using the HMM series of zoids. Not only do they pack some better fire power, in theory they should be better than the average zoid in terms of maneuverability. Not to mention THEY LOOK AWESOME!"

"You just wanted to see the cool kids in action, didn't you?" She stared at me for a moment before sheepishly walking away. I chuckled and headed back towards the support hanger. The godos triplets were there, now sporting MY black digital camouflage paint job, with a few exceptions. Ex had a golden wedding ring but a red line going from one side of it to the other, like of those "Not allowed" signs you see. It was painted on the side of his head. Max had a jet fighter tearing itself apart going at crazy speeds on his arms while Rev simply had a car engine on her legs. I had a feeling everyone in my team was wearing the black digi-camo. "Hey, I heard there's a new liger. Where is she at?"

"She's out back." Answered Ex. Exiting the hanger I went around back to be greeted by a blade liger painted exactly like me. I wasn't sure what, but she seemed familiar somehow. We circled each other, sizing one another up. I couldn't help but feel that if she could, she'd be smiling at me, and that's enough to make it creepy.

"So, you're the new recruit? I'm Shadow, leader of the H-types. Got a name?"

"Yes, I do." As she spoke I gave her a cautious stare, "If you are Shadow, I am Mirage." It wasn't what she said that caused me to be wary of her, it was who she sounded like.


End file.
